But at least almost everyone now agrees that we must act, if not at the necessary speed. If we're to have a high chance of preventing global temperatures from rising by 2C (3.6F) above preindustrial levels, we need, in the rich nations, a 90% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030. The greater part of the cut has to be made at the beginning of this period. To see why, picture two graphs with time on the horizontal axis and the rate of emissions plotted vertically. On one graph the line falls like a ski jump: a steep drop followed by a shallow tail. On the other it falls like the trajectory of a bullet. The area under each line represents the total volume of greenhouse gases produced in that period. They fall to the same point by the same date, but far more gases have been produced in the second case, making runaway climate change more likely.
So how do we do it without bringing civilisation crashing down? Here is a plan for drastic but affordable action that the government could take. It goes much further than the proposals discussed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown yesterday, for the reason that this is what the science demands.
1. Set a target for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions based on the latest science. The government is using outdated figures, aiming for a 60% reduction by 2050. Even the annual 3% cut proposed in the early day motion calling for a new climate change bill does not go far enough. Timescale: immediately.
2. Use that target to set an annual carbon cap, which falls on the ski-jump trajectory. Then use the cap to set a personal carbon ration. Every citizen is given a free annual quota of carbon dioxide. He or she spends it by buying gas and electricity, petrol and train and plane tickets. If they run out, they must buy the rest from someone who has used less than his or her quota. This accounts for about 40% of the carbon dioxide we produce. The remainder is auctioned off to companies. It's a simpler and fairer approach than either green taxation or the EU's emissions trading scheme, and it also provides people with a powerful incentive to demand low-carbon technologies. Timescale: a full scheme in place by January 2009.
3. Introduce a new set of building regulations, with three objectives. A. Imposing strict energy-efficiency requirements on all major refurbishments (costing £3,000 or more). Timescale: in force by June 2007. B. Obliging landlords to bring their houses up to high energy-efficiency standards before they can rent them out. Timescale: to cover all new rentals from January 2008. C. Ensuring that all new homes in the UK are built to the German Passivhaus standard (which requires no heating system). Timescale: in force by 2012.
4. Ban the sale of incandescent lightbulbs, patio heaters, garden floodlights and other wasteful and unnecessary technologies. Introduce a stiff "feebate" system for all electronic goods sold in the UK, with the least efficient taxed heavily and the most efficient receiving tax discounts. Every year the standards in each category rise. Timescale: fully implemented by November 2007.
the rest here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1031-21.htm
Note: http://www.commondreams...
Drastic Action On Climate Change Is Needed Now - And Here's The Plan
Posted on Thursday, November 02 at 08:51 by 4CanadaContributed By
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Or just keep complaining. That seems to work doesn't it?
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Everybody got to deviate from the norm
The most uplifting new idea that he presented was taking the U.K. Met Office's projections of the 'safe' amount of global GHG emissions for the year 2030 (a widely recognized pivotal year as that is the estimated date when the 'tipping point' has been tipped if we go on like we are now)as the amount that must be fairly divided among the world's population to grant everyone on the planet an equal share of GHG emission allotment. At first the plan was uplifting, but not for long, because as I crunched the numbers according to his template I was shocked at the results for a typical Canadian citizen.
The example I first calculated was our individual GHG emission allowance for our cars/trucks/SUVs/minivans. Without going through the entire calculation here, the bottom line is there is enough for either: 1) 100,000 SUVs to drive 12,000 miles per year, or 2) 10,000,000 vehicles to drive 120 miles each per year. This fit in with the overall calculation of each individual Canadian's GHG emissions allotment of 0.33 tonnes per year, which would be a 98.7% reduction of our current emissions which clock in at 19.1 tonnes per Canadian per year.
Well, I am still shocked by the implications. No Canadian government will ever accept such an allotment, even though, as George points out, equitable rationing is the only fair way to proceed.
The whole exercise tells me that resource wars, depleted uranium contamination, cruel exploitation of half of the world's population, etc. is only a warmup for wiping out most of the world's population so that the remainder can have enough GHG emissions to live a "decent" lifestyle. Again, if we take the maximum allowable emissions at 2.7 b tonnes in 2030 according to the Met Office and calculate again, only about 200,000,000 people on earth can have an emission allowance of 13.5 tonnes per capita, which is sufficient (perhaps) for a lifestyle between that of Canada and France (which has a very low GHG emission rate of less that 7 tonnes now). There is zip for everyone else - nada, nil.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Gaian pioneer James Lovelock suggested this summer that we will have an 8 to 10 degree temperature increase within 10 to 20 years and that only about 200,000,000 people will be able to survive, and that will be in the Arctic. If we had individual allocations of 3.0 tonnes per person (as in an undeveloped country) we could support a global population of only 900,000,000 people.
Perhaps this puts a new spin on the 'concentration camps' being built in North America, the police states that are being fortified under the guise of the War on Terror, the usurpation of civil liberties everywhere.
The governments of the world are working for the survival of the policy-making elites who have "led" us into this mess, and that could mean the elimination of most of the people on the planet.
I have been fond of saying that my activism is nothing but a struggle for the planet and all of its people. Today I feel that those people have been consigned to death row.
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Michael
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Everybody got to deviate from the norm
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Michael
And, this is solution that could start right NOW!
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"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Friedrich Nietzsche
THAT is a very good point! If it gets any worse the manufacturers might as well start shipping their crap right to the landfill and cut out the middle man. You and Me! I've bought things that malfunction right out of the package. I've bought things that don't survive beyond one use. I bought a luggage piece last year and after one return trip, it was wrecked. I didn't want to throw it away so I took it back to the shop in West Edmonton Mall and very loudly told them to take care of their own garbage.
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Everybody got to deviate from the norm