Trump’s Climate Cuts Will Add Millions of Extra Tons of CO2 to the Air

Posted on April 26, 2017 by GarryRogers

GR: Even if the next U. S. president reverses Trump’s policies, there will still be a large quantity of extra greenhouse-gas emissions. Moreover, simple reversal will not meet our commitments under the Paris treaty; we had much left to do when Obama left office. The effect of our leadership failure on emissions by other countries is hard to calculate. Will our bad example will inspire the others to excel?

President Trump’s efforts to roll back existing climate change policies will have a delayed but prolonged effect, according to a new analysis. Credit: DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images

“President Donald Trump’s planned climate change policies could lead to an extra half a billion tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2025, according to a new analysis. That is equal to the annual electricity emissions of 60 percent of U.S. homes.

“Climate Advisers, a Washington consultancy, predicts that U.S. carbon emissions, which have been falling, will begin to flatten or increase by 2020 if the Trump administration succeeds in repealing the Clean Power Plan and other Obama-era regulations.

“In other words, decisions made today will have a delayed effect—but a prolonged one.

“We found that the ‘Trump Effect’ really begins to bite into the U.S. emissions trajectory in 2025—since many of the factors influencing today’s emissions trajectory can’t be reversed quickly,” the report said.

“The analysis assumes that some regulations are more vulnerable than others to rollbacks. The Clean Power Plan to curb carbon emissions from power plants, methane rules covering the oil and gas industry and a handful of efficiency regulations are “highly vulnerable” in the consulting firm’s view, either because they’re high profile or because they haven’t been fully implemented. If these are the only rules the Trump administration is able to repeal, it would erase 332 million metric tons of carbon pollution cuts, Climate Advisers projected.

“If, however, the Trump administration succeeds also in eliminating “moderately vulnerable” rules—those controlling landfill emissions, potent refrigeration gases such as HFCs and several energy efficiency standards—another 229 million tons of projected emissions cuts would not happen, the report finds.

“Although the Obama administration policies alone were not enough to get the U.S. to its goal under the Paris climate agreement, Climate Advisers said Trump’s policies would stall or increase the nation’s decline in emissions. The U.S. pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, and it’s currently only a third of the way there.

“The Climate Advisers report is one of several recent efforts to quantify the potential climate impact of the Trump administration’s energy and environmental policies. InsideClimate News previously compiled a chart showing how the U.S. would have virtually no chance of meeting its Paris promise under Trump, based on estimates by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of the emissions cuts achievable with each of Obama’s policies.” –Marianne Lavelle (Continue: Trump’s Climate Cuts Could Result in Half-Billion Extra Tons of CO2 in the Air | InsideClimate News.)

Nitrogen pollution: the forgotten element of climate change

Posted on December 5, 2016 by GarryRogers

GR: Living downstream from an active farm, I have witnessed the deadly impact of nitrogen fertilizer runoff first hand (more here). The authors of the article below point out that global warming will increase the need for nitrogen fertilizer which itself fuels global warming–giving us another nasty positive feedback loop. Increasing nitrogen use in food production gives us another reason to focus on family planning and population reduction while we might still control the process.

“While carbon pollution gets all the headlines for its role in climate change, nitrogen pollution is arguably a more challenging problem. Somehow we need to grow more food to feed an expanding population while minimising the problems associated with nitrogen fertiliser use.

“In Europe alone, the environmental and human health costs of nitrogen pollution are estimated to be 70 to 320 billion euros per year.

Food & Agriculture – Green beans: why pulses are the eco-friendly option for feeding – and saving – the world. Read now.

“Nitrogen emissions such as ammonia, nitrogen oxide and nitrous oxides contribute to particulate matter and acid rain. These cause respiratory problems and cancers for people and damage to forests and buildings.

“Nitrogenous gases also play an important role in global climate change. Nitrous oxide is a particularly potent greenhouse gas as it is over 300 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

“Nitrogen from fertiliser, effluent from livestock and human sewage boost the growth of algae and cause water pollution. The estimated A$8.2 billion damage bill to the Great Barrier Reef is a reminder that our choices on land have big impacts on land, water and the air downstream.” —Ee Ling Ng and Deli Chen, Robert Edis (Continue: Nitrogen pollution: the forgotten element of climate change | Asia Pacific)

Jury in on climate change, so listen to the experts

Posted on February 15, 2015 by GarryRogers

“As a Nobel Prize winner, I travel the world meeting all kinds of people.

“These are the real experts on climate change and this is what they’re saying:

Earth’s climate has changed over the past century. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, sea levels have risen, and glaciers and ice sheets have decreased in size.
The best available evidence indicates that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main cause.
Continuing increases in greenhouse gases will produce further warming and other changes in Earth’s physical environment and ecosystems.”

Source: www.smh.com.au

Office of the Auditor General of Canada—Mitigating Climate Change

Posted on October 9, 2014 by GarryRogers

Canada Falls to the Energy Industry

GR: The evidence suggests that the world’s 15th largest economy has succumbed to greed and has placed profit above the health of the land.

“Overall, we found that federal departments have made unsatisfactory progress in each of the four areas examined. Despite some advances since our 2012 audit, timelines for putting measures in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have not been met and departments are not yet able to assess whether measures in place are reducing emissions as expected” (Office of the Auditor General of Canada).

Why we did this audit

Scientists have documented the effects of climate change in all regions of our planet. For example, the Earth’s atmosphere is warming, sea levels are rising, the oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic, the Arctic ice cap is shrinking, and some weather extremes are becoming more frequent. In Canada, the effects include the loss of glaciers and the resulting impacts on water supplies on the Prairies, changes to water levels in the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence watershed, increasing risks from coastal storms, and more frequent heat waves.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, these changes are attributable to human activities that result in emissions of greenhouse gases. Efforts to coordinate international action on greenhouse gases began in 1992 with the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Despite these efforts, emissions have risen and are projected to rise further. The Government of Canada has recognized the need to urgently combat climate change and has made commitments and allocated funds to reduce emissions.

Source: www.oag-bvg.gc.ca