We have a book coming out next month. I don’t expect it to be a bestseller – it’s pretty technical – but the topic is important. The book, titled Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low Carbon Economy, is a road map for producing carbon offsets based on land management practices. Let me explain.
ignoratio elenchi n.
A logical fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but has nothing to do with the proposition it purports to prove. Also known as “irrelevant conclusion”. [Lat. ignorance of refutation.]
As the fact of climate change becomes ever more apparent, the science skeptics have come up with a new one: Sure climate change has some unfortunate consequences, but there are good aspects, too. For example, read Myron Ebell’s recent piece in Forbes magazine titled "Love Global Warming". For that, Mr. Ebell wins our latest Ignoratio Elenchi Award.
The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 14-18, and Bike-to-Work Day on May 18. Biking is the ultimate in clean transportation, emitting no greenhouse gases whatsoever. Plus it keeps you fit and it’s fun.
Still not sure? Check out our stories from people who bike to work daily. If you decide to join in, tell us your experiences!
You hear a lot of talk these days about "carbon footprints". But what is a carbon footprint, anyway?
Carbon dioxide (CO2), while not the only greenhouse gas, is the most abundant. CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, and most of the energy in this country comes from burning fossil fuels. Thus, anything that requires energy to manufacture, transport, or operate causes the emission of CO2 (see my previous post, The Carbon Footprint of… Everything).
A "carbon footprint" is the amount of CO2 released by an activity or entity. So what’s your carbon footprint?
The second installment of the IPCC’s 4th Assessment on Climate Change, titled “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability”, was released on April 6, 2007. In recognition of this report, I’m doing a weekly series called “Climate Dangers You May Not Know About“.
1. More Acidic Oceans
2. Drinking Water and Disease
3. Shifts in Lifecycle Timing
4. Drought and Violence
5. The Melting of the North Pole
The North Pole is surrounded by the huge Arctic Ocean. For millennia, that ocean has been covered by ice, but today that sea ice is rapidly melting. We’ve lost about 20 percent of summer sea ice since 1980 – an area equal to Texas, California and Montana combined – and it’s happening faster than we had predicted. The North Pole could be ice-free during summer months well before 2050.
Illustration by Steve Deyo, ©UCAR, based on research by NSIDC and NCAR.
A lot of press attention has been focused on how the loss of sea ice is threatening the polar bear. Much less attention has been paid to global impacts of this melting sea ice.
“Governments have a crucial supportive role in providing appropriate enabling environment, such as, institutional, policy, legal and regulatory frameworks, to sustain investment flows and for effective technology transfer – without which it may be difficult to achieve emission reductions at a significant scale.”
