Climate 411

Today’s post is by Bill Chameides, Ph.D., science adviser to Environmental Defense and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

In 2002, the Bush Administration set up the Climate Change Science Program (CCSP). Yesterday, an independent panel released a report through the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) evaluating how that program has done. The headline in the New York Times sums it up: “Panel Faults Emphasis of U.S. Climate Program.”

When I look at the work of the CCSP over the last five years, here’s what stands out.

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This is Part 1 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 authors of today’s post are Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program, and Tim Male, Ph.D., a senior ecologist in the Land, Water & Wildlife program.

For the second course in our food series, let’s start with some pie – specifically, Bill’s greenhouse gas pie showing the contribution of different greenhouses gases to global warming. The first chart shows that methane is the second largest contributor to global warming.

Globally, nearly half of that hefty methane slice comes from agriculture. What causes these emissions, and how can we reduce them?

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