Climate Capitalism

I just read an article put out by the World Watch Institute talking about how “chewing the cud” is potentially responsible for up 51% of greenhouse warming gases.  The New York Times picked up the story this week with Fiona MacKay’s story: “Looking for a Solution to Cows’ Climate Problem.”

While on one had this story gives a big boost to the vegan option, it also suggests the merits of more morally problematic futures that include growing meat in petri dishes.  I hear it goes great with a beaker of a 2016 Cabernet.

For congress, it has been all about health care and the economy in recent months. However, an article in the NYT today suggest there may be some motion on climate change legislation as the major players in the energy industry start taking sides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/business/energy-environment/19fuel.html

A quick post to two fairly long video clips.

Bill Clinton talks about the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a non-profit designed to establish base-line data on emissions for countries, cities and companies around the world.  He has some interesting anticdotes on everything from green roofs in New York to sugar cane ethanol in Ethiopia.

Walmart webcast of their Sustainability Milestone Meeting in July of 2009.  Includes a speeches from CEO Mike Duke and other Walmart & Sam’s Club executives.  Walmart recently annouced they will be requiring their suppliers to answer a 15-question survey which includes questions like: “Have you measured your corporate greenhouse gas emissions?”  You can skip the Walmart cheer, but it is interesting to hear how the world’s largest corporation is shifting its thinking and why.

The Guardian’s, Suzanne Goldenberg discusses the global importance of the U.S. House vote on landmark climate change legislation scheduled for tomorrow morning.  She writes that Obama’s ability to set a global agenda to tackel global warming hinges on the United States passing climate change prior to the United Nations - Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in December.

Read Goldenberg’s arcticle at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/25/barack-obama-climate-change-bill

The White House released a key report on climate change this week. The report Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, (Thomas R. Karl, Jerry M. Melillo, and Thomas C. Peterson, (eds.). Cambridge University Press, 2009.) was the work of multiple U.S. agencies including NOAA and the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

What a difference a new administration makes.  Rather than the Bush administration’s technique of downplaying hard science in lieu of industry interest this report was accompanied by a full White House press release by Obama advisor John Holdren.  The report itself paints a bleak, but honest picture of the challenges climate change poses for the 21 Century world.  It is written in fairly plain language complete with plenty of graphs, diagrams, and examples to make the results of the science that went into the report, accessible to the average reader.

You can view the official press release YouTube clip below.  If you are in a hurry, you can skip the first 5-10 minutes which is largely introductions.  It gets a little more interesting when the authors present some of the key findings of the report.  One comment I found very apt to “Climate Capitalism” was by lead author, Tom Karl,

“… we designed and built our infrastructure for the climate we’ve had, not the climate we will have.”

This statement is exactly the kind of pragmatic thinking this country needs if we are going to lead the world out of the climate crisis.  The status quo of industry and infrastructure will not hold up to the rate of change we are now experiencing.

I was lead the this report and the video clip by Lisa Moore’s post on the Environmental Defense Fund’s blog. Drawing from the report,  Moore’s post includes some nicely summarized highlights of what a warmer world might look like.

In this May 14 entry, I commented on an article from an Oregon newspaper discussing how relatively inexpensive efficiency improvements like installing insulation can have a much greater impact on reducing carbon emissions than investing in more expensive technologies like solar power.  Seemingly to reinforce the point, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced an initiative today to increase the number of light colored roofs.  Replacing dark roofs with white ones, according to a statement attributed to Secretary Chu in a May 26, 2009, AFP article, “could have the equivalent effect of taking every car in the world off the road for 11 years.” 

Although the article isn’t clear, it appears that the 11-year figure assumes that all dark roofs in the world suddenly be painted white.  Obviously, an initiative to get new government construction or to provide tax incentives for lighter colored roofs on private construction would not have this drastic an effect, but it would have a positive effect.  Again, the point is not that investment in more expensive technologies should not be abandoned for simpler ones.  As Secretary Chu points out, we must consider a “range of measures” in fighting climate change, which includes both new advances in technology and greater implementation of common sense efficiency improvements.

AP White House Correpondent Jennifer Loven published this analysis today on the Obama administration’s brokering of a compromise between the federal government, state governments, the auto industry and environmentalists on vehicle emissions standards.  No doubt many will find fault with one or more aspects of the deal, but that is the nature of any compromise.  The fact that the various stakeholders with significantly divergent interests were able to find common ground is reason for optimism that we will start to see progress on other energy and pollution issues, including the fight against global warming more generally.

Time reporter Michael Grunwald reports that developer and former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys player, Syd Kitson, has unveiled plans for a Florida green community for as many as 45,000 inhabitants.  The plans feature a photovoltaic solar power plant, a smart grid, and a variety of energy efficiency strategies.

Click this link to see Kitson’s feature-filled website for Babcock Ranch - Southwest Florida’s City of Tomorrow.  Other than the overabundance of Segway machines highlighed in the concept video, the City looks very cool.  It will be interesting to see if he can actually pull it off.

Reuters reported on the award of a $75,000 prize for a Solar Powered Cooker to Norwegian Jon Boehmer, based in Kenya.  Apparently he beat out another innovative idea involving garlic-laced animal feed to reduce methane in cows.  There was no mention if the cooker was capable of cooking low-methane beef.

Read the full article:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090409/india_nm/india389609