Climate 411

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.

Today’s Guest Blogger, Lisa Moore, is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

The fiery centers of volcanoes burn carbon-containing rocks from deep within the earth, and thus emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂). There are a fair number of volcanoes in this world, all emitting CO₂, so couldn’t this be the cause of global warming?

In a word, no. Here’s how scientists know that climate change is not from volcanic activity.

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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.

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