Climate 411

The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

Today Al Gore and the IPCC received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to raise public awareness and understanding of the global climate change crisis. We applaud them, and also the Nobel committee for recognizing the threats global warming poses to security and stability around the world.

Congress now has the opportunity to make the U.S. a leader on climate change by harnessing the unprecedented momentum for strong policies to cap and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

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This is Part 3 of a three-part series on Food and Farming.

1. Increased CO₂ and Food Quality
2. Farm Animals and Methane
3. “Food Mile” Complexities

The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

When it’s apple season here in New York and the green markets are overflowing, for a store to ship in apples from Washington State or New Zealand burns fuel for no good reason. Local food is fresher, tastes better, and supports the community. And locally produced food often results in lower greenhouse gas emissions – but not always. The greenhouse gas calculation is complicated, and you can’t assume that if a crop is produced locally, greenhouse gas emissions are lower.

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The author of today’s post, Andy Darrell, is Regional Director for the Living Cities program at Environmental Defense.

In 1800, 3 percent of the world’s people lived in urban areas. In the last year, that number is likely to have passed 50 percent [PDF]. The world is becoming urbanized at an extremely fast rate, and as the urban population increases, so does urban development.

This presents an opportunity in the fight against global warming, since energy use in buildings accounts for 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

You might think it costs a lot more to make a building energy efficient, but it doesn’t have to. A building that produces half the usual emissions can cost as little as 1 percent more to build. How can that be?

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This post is by Carol Andress, Economic Development Specialist at Environmental Defense.

Climate Vote 2007

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Unlike the Senate, which has voted twice on legislation to cap and reduce America’s global warming pollution, the House has never brought a global warming bill to the floor.

So, when the incoming Speaker of the new Congress, Representative Nancy Pelosi, pledged to make global warming a top legislative priority in January, the House, as a legislative body, was starting from scratch.

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This post is by John Mimikakis, Senior Policy Manager at Environmental Defense.

Climate Vote 2007

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Congressmen John Dingell (D-MI) and Rick Boucher (D-VA) aren’t the most likely global warming allies. Until this year, Dingell was a staunch critic of efforts to curb global warming. And Boucher, hailing as he does from coal country, would seem more likely to play the role of climate skeptic than evangelist.

And yet, these two representatives appear to be leading House efforts to draft legislation that would, for the first time, place hard limits on America’s global warming pollution.

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