Climate 411

Today’s guest blogger, Tony Kreindler, is a Media Director at Environmental Defense.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the Energy Bill under debate in the Senate. With all the lobbying and spin, it can be hard to sort out what’s really going on. Here’s the bottom line.

When it comes to solving climate change, our best yardstick for measuring success is how much we cut global warming pollution. The Energy Bill could make some progress, but it’s no substitute for the comprehensive climate legislation Congress will work on later this year. Let’s look at the numbers.

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It’s going to be a quiet couple of days Climate411. We’re out of the office today and tomorrow at an off-site staff retreat, so I won’t be able to post as often as usual. There’s an easy way to find out if we’ve posted without having to come check every day.

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Thanks for visiting, and have a great week!

In scanning the climate news each week, I come upon interesting items I’d like to share. This week I found some alarming new studies about carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels in the atmosphere and ocean.

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Yesterday, President Bush stated that carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 2006 declined 1.3 percent, "putting us well ahead of what is needed annually to meet my greenhouse gas intensity reduction goal of 18% by 2012." There are two problems with what he said:

1. The so-called "decline" is most likely a short-term dip in an upward trend.
2. The President’s goal is insufficient to halt global warming.

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Our guest blogger, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

If you have a garden, you know the climate is warming. In temperate zones, the last frost in spring comes earlier, and the first frost in fall comes later. The longer growing season may allow you to grow vegetables you never could grow before. But you also may have noticed your weeds are more aggressive, insect pests are more of a problem, and pollen plagues you all summer long. You’re not imagining things!

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In large cities such as New York, buildings account for most of the greenhouse gas emissions. The William J. Clinton Foundation has developed a plan to reduce energy usage in buildings, and organized an international coalition of banks and 16 of the world’s largest cities to implement it. Billions of dollars have been pledged to address the problem. For details, read the story in the International Herald Tribune.