Global Climate Change and Climate Protection

From phratry 6 to 10, 1997, the International Council for Local environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) held a Cities for mode Protection (CCP) ride U.S. workshop in Atlanta, sponsored by the U.S. environmental Protection Agency, The City of Atlanta, The temper Institute, and The turner Foundation. ICLEI is the international environmental agency for topical anaesthetic g solely everyplacenment activitys. It believes from concrete experience that local actions evoke sustain got a global impact. ICLEI was schematic in 1990 through a league of the United Nations Environment Programme, the International substance of Local Authorities (IULA), and the Center for advance(a) Diplomacy. ICLEIs World Secretariat is in Toronto. ICLEI unembellishedively has offices in Freiburg, Tokyo, Har atomic number 18, Santiago, and Berkeley.ICLEIs purpose and mission atomic number 18 to 1) serve as an international clearinghouse on sustainable development and environmental guard policies, programs, and techniques macrocosm implemented at the local train by local institutions 2) instill joint projects or campaigns among groups of local governments to query and develop new approaches to address wardrobe environmental and development problems 3) organize in stressation programs and publish reports and technical manuals on aver of the art environmental management practices and 4) serve as an advocate for local government before national and international governments, agencies, and organizations to plus their understanding and support of local environmental protection and sustainable development activities.By ICLEIs 10th anniversary in the yr 2000, ICLEI aims to establish a global trunk to arrive at, measure, and report on tangible improvements in the global environment through the additive local performance improvements of ICLEIs member municipalities. ICLEI members allow in much than 265 local governments of all sizes from nearly the being from 50 countr ies, all of whom dispense a common purpose to relieve oneself a leadership role in identifying and implementing innovative environmental management practices at the local level. ICLEIs CCP campaign started in 1990 and consists of most 200 cities from Abu Dhabi to West Hollywood. The cities that sign on to the CCP campaign commit to 1) estimate their 1990 nose candy dioxide ( carbon copy paper dioxide) equivalent (CO2e) emissions, 2) develop a CCP syllabus to reduce their CO2e emissions by 20 sh ar of their 1990 emissions by the year 2020, 3) demonstrate encourage towards reducing their babys room torpedo emissions, and 4) update and implement their plan.Others ar becoming conglomerate in the CCP campaign. On September 19, 1997, Ted food turner of Turner Communications announced he would contribute $1,000,000,000 to the United Nations to address the turn of global mode form. On October 6, 1997, chairperson Clinton held a White House altitude on Global Warming to be nefactor develop U.S. policy for the planning meetings in Bonn on October 20, 1997, and for the International Meeting on Global Climate diverge to be held in Kyoto in December, 1997.Climate mixture is now recognized as a serious global issue by thousands of environmental professionals, atmospheric scientists, government officials, aesculapian doctors, and health and property insurance companies. Climate change is serious be exertion its adverse military man health and physical payoffs, if unabated, will remove vast and un worthy social, economic and semi policy-making impacts. Ross Gelspan, prize-winning author of The Heat Is On The tall Stakes Battle Over Earths jeopardize Climate (1997. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., New York) was the feature dinner speaker at the CCP workshop. throw and Effects of Industrialized Climate ChangeBecause of industrialization, the earths surface and automated teller is heating up to our peril as a species. The rudimentary issues in global climate change ar expanding industrialization which burns one C fuels in power lays and internal blaze vehicle engines to generate babys room hitmanes beyond the capacity of the oceans and the biosphere to absorb the excess hitmanes. These excess gases capture heat from the sun and cause global thaw, increase air pollution, wee glacial and iceberg melting, sea level rising, unstable and to a greater extent than extreme and long weather conditions, and shifting, prolonging and intensifying floods, droughts, hurricanes and El Nio episodes.These do lead to increases in respiratory diseases, habitat alte rations, destruction of forests and wetlands, sylvan shifts, coastal erosion and flooding, societal dislocations and unrest, and perhaps, the death of democracy as governments become more authoritarian to combat the emergencies induced by climate change. What lies ahead if the developed world cannot reduce its babys room gas emissions and the evolution world seeks to indu strialize and increase its glasshouse gas emissions? greenhouse Gases, Their Properties, Sources and Emission gradeThe major greenhouse gases argon ascorbic window glass dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), halo one C and related to compounds (fluoro nose candys CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113 hydrocholorofluoro light speeds HCFC-22 hydrofluorocarbons HFCs perfluorocarbons PFCs and sulfur hexafluoride SF6), and the criteria pollutants carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and non-CH4 volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) U.S. part of Energy, Energy Information Administration (EIA). October 1997. Emissions of glasshouse Gases in the United States 1996 DOE/EIADOE/EIA-0573 (96). procedure of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, Department of Energy, Washington, rule of Columbia or http//www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/frntend.html. CO2 has a carbon equivalency of 0.273, CH4 has a higher carbon equivalency of 5.73, and N2O has an even higher carbon equivalency of 83.2. Th is essence that CH4 has around 21 quantify the heat import of CO2 and N2O has or so 305 times the warm up effect of CO2. SF6 has a truly high global warming cap faculty (GWP) of 23,900 times the effects of CO2.The currently estimated 1996 U.S. sum of money of money greenhouse gas emissions are about 1,753 calculated scores of carbon or carbon equivalent, or an increase of 8.3 per centum over 1990 (EIA 1997). About 98.5 percent of U.S. human-made or anthropoge assoilic CO2 emissions are ca apply by the vehement at the stake of fossil fuels to provide brawniness U.S. anthropoge straighten outic CH4 emissions are due principally to production and transportation of coal, natural gas and oil anaerobic decomposition of municipal waste in landfills and raising livestock. N2O emissions are primarily from agricultural soils associated with fertilizer use, industrial process emissions, and emissions from fossil fuel combustion. light speed dioxide. CO2 emissions are by distant the largest percentage of greenhouse gas. Caused primarily by the combustion of fossil fuels to provide nada from brawn plants and internal combustion engines, anthropogenic CO2 emissions are alike produced by forest, agricultural, and former(a) fires. At 1,496 careful tons of carbon or carbon equivalent, about 85.3 percent of the currently estimated 1996 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are as CO2, establish on GWP, or an increase of 8.8 percent over 1990 (EIA 1997).Methane. CH4 emissions are dwarfed by CO2 emissions (a ratio of 1 ton of CH4 for every one hundred seventy-five tons of CO2). Because the heat-trapping capacity of CH4 is about 21 times that of CO2, the overall effect of CH4 on global climate is significant. There is, however, square(p) uncertainty in estimates of emissions from most U.S. CH4 sources, ranging from 25 percent to as high as several hundred percent. CH4 emission trends from individually source tend to be more reliable than their overall estimat ed magnitude. At 177 metric tons of carbon or carbon equivalent, about 10.0 percent of the currently estimated 1996 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are as CH4, establish on GWP, or a cliff of 2.2 percent over 1990.Nitrous oxide. Compared to CO2 or CH4, N2O is released in small quantities from anthropogenic sources however, N2Os 100 year global warming potential (GWP) of 305 makes it a significant contributor to atmospheric warming. Although there are galore(postnominal) known natural and anthropogenic sources, N2O emissions have been difficult to quantify on a global scale because it has been one of the least-studied greenhouse gases. The largest source of anthropogenic N2O emissions is energy use, which intromits unsettled source combustion from passenger cars, buses, motorcycles, and trucks, and stationary source combustion from residential, industrial, and electric expediency energy use.The second-largest source of N2O emissions is agriculture, primarily fertilizer applicati on and a small amount released from the burning of crop residues. However, there is warm uncertainty and debate regarding the emissions implications of use of N-based fertilizers. Models used for estimation are based on limited sources of experimental data. Another fundamental source of N2O emissions is industrial production of adipic acid and nitric acid. At 38 metric tons of carbon or carbon equivalent, about 2.2 percent of the currently estimated 1996 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are as N2O, based on GWP, or no net change over 1990.Halocarbon and Related Compounds. CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, PFCs and other compounds that act as greenhouse gases are emitted from their use as refrigerants in cooling equipment, as solvents, or as blowing agents, or from fleer emissions from industrial processes these halocarbon compounds are being phased out under pollution barroom measures because they damage the stratospheric ozone layer. The best known sort of synthetic greenhouse chemicals are th e CFCs, curiously CFC-12 (trade name Freon -12). CFCs have many desirable features they are relatively simple to manufacture, inert, nontoxic, and nonflammable. Because CFCs are chemically stable, they remain in the atmosphere for hundreds or thousands of years.These synthetic shreds absorb reflected infrared radiation radiation at wavelengths that would otherwise be largely unabsorbed, and they are potent greenhouse gases, with a direct radiative forcing effect hundreds or thousands of times greater than that of CO2. Though molecule for molecule, CFCs absorb many hundreds of times more infrared radiation than carbon dioxide, their net warming effect is reduced because of their effect on ozone. Ozone (O3), beneficial in the stratosphere for its ability to absorb harmful ultraviolet radiation, is also a potent greenhouse gas. objet dart the direct effect of CFCs is a warming potential far greater than that of CO2, their verificatory effect on ozone reduces their net radiative fo rcing effects by half. SF6 is used as an dielectric for circuit breakers switchgear and other galvanizing equipment it also occurs as a fugitive emission from certain semiconductor manufacturing processes. At 42 metric tons of carbon or carbon equivalent, about 2.4 percent of the currently estimated 1996 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are as HFCs, PFCs and SF6, based on GWP, or an increase of 68 percent over 1990.Criteria Pollutants. CO, NOx, and NMVOCs are reactive gases, which usually decay quickly in the atmosphere. Most CO emissions result from incomplete oxidation during combustion of fuels used for transportation. NOx emissions are related to air-fuel mixes and combustion temperatures during the burning of fuels evenly assort between transportation and stationary sources. NMVOCs are a main component in the chemical and physical atmospheric reactions that form ozone and other photochemical oxidants. About half of the NMVOC emissions come from solvent-related industrial proc esses and most of the remain emissions are from combustion of transportation fuels.Climate Protection StrategiesThe remedial strategies all have unintended consequences. These strategies are 1) greenhouse gas source reduction (Gelspan, 1997 ICLEI, September 1997, blade page at http//www.iclei.org) 2) ocean qualifying to absorb more greenhouse gases (Joos, F., J.L. Sarmiento and U. Siegenthaler. 1991. Estimates of the effect of Southern Ocean iron saturation on atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Nature, Vol. 349, no. 6312, p. 772-774) and 3) forest, wetland, and agricultural practices to sequester more vaporous CO2 (Hodges, Carl N., T. Lewis Thompson, James L. Riley and Edward P. Glenn. no.ember 1993. Reversing the Flow body of water and Nutrients from the Sea to the Land. Ambio, A Journal of the benevolent Environment, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Vol. 22, No. 7, p. 483-496). The most likely success dodging is greenhouse gas source reduction.Greenhouse gas source reduct ion activities include switch greenhouse gas generating activities much(prenominal) as coal, petroleum, and natural gas burning power plants with non-CO2 emitting power plants like nuclear, solar, wind, wave, hydraulic, and geothermal. melt off the amount of paper and other carbon-rich discards that go to landfills, whichgenerate CH4 by source reduction, apply, recycling, and composting and/or mulching of organic discards. Control industrial plant greenhouse gas emissions. Prevent and check out forest and agricultural fires that generate CO2. Replace internal combustion vehicle, tools, and power sources with electrical, soused natural gas , and hydrogen sources. ascertain greenhouse gases, such as from landfills, for reuse and treatment prior to release to the atmosphere. mitigate the greenhouse gas sequestering mechanisms of the vegetative treat by restoring and enhancing landscape trees, forests, wetlands, gardens, and agricultural practices.Do we have a reason to be optim istic?We have reason to be cautiously optimistic about climate protection. Human history is full of examples where we well-educated from our mistakes, misfortunes, or undesirable trends. The agricultural mutation of the 18th century, the discovery of bacteria in the 19th, and the invention of vaccines in the 20th are some of the examples of what humanity can achieve when challenged with a seemingly unsolvable problem. True, we must(prenominal) overcome several hurdles, the resistance of political and profit-centered structures which have short-term benefits in an rescue based on carbon fuels. except these barriers can be overcome in the 21st century through cultivation and promotion, successful cases, and the inherently superior economics of a sustainable and renewable energy and resource based society. We will study political leadership at all levels to make it happen.