Climate
Change News – October 28,
2005
Brought
to you by the Environmental and
Energy Study Institute
Carol Werner, Executive Director
Rep.
Kucinich Introduces Resolution of
Inquiry on Climate Change
On
October 26, Rep. Kucinich (D-OH)
introduced with 150 cosponsors a
Resolution of Inquiry (H. Res.
515) requesting that the White
House submit to Congress all
documents in their possession
relating to the anticipated
effects of climate change on the
coastal regions of the United
States. A Resolution of Inquiry is
a rare House procedure used to
obtain documents from the
Executive Branch. Under House
rules, the resolution is referred
to committee, and action must be
taken in committee within 14
legislative days.
On
October 27, in a one-minute
statement on the House floor, Rep.
Kucinich said, "With the
devastation of hurricanes Wilma,
Rita and others, we are aware that
there is a new phenomenon that is
affecting this country with
respect to climate change.
Scientists may dispute whether or
not the meteorological changes
that we have witnessed are somehow
related to changes in the global
climate, but one thing for sure,
it is important that Congress
begin a dialogue with the
administration..... It is
important that we find out what
connection there may be with
climate change and effects on
coastal regions. Hurricane Katrina
certainly illustrated that we
should be concerned about climate
change." The resolution has
been referred to the House
Committee on Science.
Wal-Mart Announces
Initiative to Cut GHG Emissions
On
October 24, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott
surprised company observers by
embracing sustainability in a
speech announcing ambitious
initiatives on "all the
issues that we've been dealing
with historically from a defensive
posture." The very fact
Wal-Mart is addressing the issues
it has so long avoided—including
greenhouse gas (GHG) emission
reduction—sends a loud signal to
the market from one of the world's
largest companies. Observers in
the socially responsible investing
(SRI) community welcomed the
potential changes while
maintaining skepticism, noting
that the company faces critiques
on so many fronts that achieving
true social and environmental
sustainability would require a
radical transformation.
Wal-Mart
aims to change the way it operates
its more than 5,000 stores around
the world--mirroring a similar
broad-ranging initiative announced
this year by General Electric.
Scott said Wal-Mart would invest
$500 million annually on
environmental technologies at its
stores, and work towards a goal of
producing no waste, and providing
fuel from renewable resources.
Scott also set a series of firm
targets, including reducing the
emission of greenhouse gases by 20
percent over the next seven years;
designing a new prototype store
that is 25 to 30 percent more
energy-efficient than existing
models within the next four years;
and increasing the fuel efficiency
of its US truck fleet by 25
percent in the next three years,
then doubling it in 10 years.
Arctic
System Heading to New, Seasonally
Ice-Free State
In the
August 23 issue of EOS,
the weekly journal of the American
Geophysical Union, Dr. Jonathan
Overpeck of the University of
Arizona and 21 other scientists
report that the Arctic system is
moving toward a new state that
falls outside the envelope of
glacial-interglacial fluctuations
that prevailed during the Earth's
recent history. The future Arctic
is likely to have dramatically
less permanent ice than exists at
present. At the current rate of
change, a summer ice-free Arctic
Ocean within a century is a real
possibility, a state not witnessed
for at least a million years. The
change appears to be driven
largely by feedback-enhanced
global climate warming, and there
seem to be few, if any, processes
or feedbacks within the Arctic
system that are capable of
altering the trajectory toward
this “super interglacial”
state.
On
October 25, the New York Times
reported that the particularly
sharp warming and melting in the
Arctic in the last few decades is
thought by many experts to result
from a mix of human and natural
causes, but a number of recent
computer simulations show that
human influence will dominate in
the future. Of the various
simulations, all done for an
international scientific report on
climate trends to be issued in
2007, the only ones that retain
much summer sea ice in the Arctic
by 2100 are those that assume
global greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions are held constant at
rates measured in 2000.
Dr.
David Barber, an Arctic expert at
the University of Manitoba, said
GHG emissions needed to be cut
quickly to avert even greater
damage, and that skeptics who use
the uncertainties inherent in
climate modeling to justify
delaying GHG emission cuts forget
that uncertainty cuts both ways,
and things could be far worse than
forecast. Barber said, "I
wish we would have started 50
years ago, but to not start now
would be a real tragedy."
Henk Brinkhuis, an Arctic
ecosystems expert at Utrecht
University in the Netherlands,
said "Even if you would stop
every engine right now, there is
no escape unless you physically
take the CO2 out of the air
again." He added that this
would have to be done on a vast
scale, far beyond simply planting
trees or the like.
New
Mexico Water Availability
Threatened By Global Warming
An
analysis of National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Association (NOAA)
data released September 23 by the
New Mexico Public Interest
Research Group (NMPIRG) and the
National Environmental Trust (NET)
found—for the first time—that
the West’s major river basins
are getting warmer, at exactly the
time of year water needs to be
stored as snow to meet the
region’s water needs. The report
finds trends that go beyond
occasional or seasonal drought,
showing a steadily declining
snowpack in the mountains that
could mean a shortage of water
flowing into rivers and
communities. Three-fourths of the
water used in the West starts as
snow.
Adriana
Blake, Marketing Manager at Taos
Ski Valley, said, “Northern New
Mexico depends on the Rio Grande
River and the Colorado River for
our water supply, and both of
these rivers are fed by snow
melting in the upper reaches of
the River basins.... Warmer
winters and less snow means that
we’ll have even less water
available. Global warming is
affecting us today.” Chips
Barry, manager of Denver Water,
Colorado’s largest water
utility, said, “All of us, water
utilities included, act on the
assumption that the future will be
a lot like the past. I’m now a
lot less confident of that than I
used to be. We know that global
warming is occurring, and that
means much greater uncertainty
about our future water
supplies.”
John
Stencel, president of Rocky
Mountain Farmers Union, said,
“Farmers and ranchers are at the
mercy of the weather. This report
shows that climate change is
already making the weather worse
for farmers and ranchers. The
drought of 2002 drove a lot of
farmers and ranchers out of
business across the West. The
report shows that those kinds of
harsh conditions are likely to
become more common.”
UK's
Prince Charles Says Climate Change
is Man’s "Greatest
Challenge"
Prince
Charles says climate change should
be seen as the "greatest
challenge to face man" and
treated as a much bigger priority
in the United Kingdom. The Prince
of Wales unveiled his vision for
the future of the environment,
farming and food in an exclusive
interview with BBC Radio 4.
He said climate change was
"what really worries
me," and he did not want his
future grandchildren to ask why he
had not acted over the issue. He
said climate change was a big
issue for the future of farming,
and affected considerations such
as which crops should be grown.
Prince Charles said, "We
should be treating, I think, the
whole issue of climate change and
global warming with a far greater
degree of priority than I think is
happening now."
Sir
David King, the government's chief
scientist, endorsed the prince's
warning about the dangers of
global warming. He said,
"Yes, I do agree with him,
and I think I have gone on record
saying much the same thing.... The
point here of course is that it is
a global problem that can only be
solved with global action. So, by
putting it at the head of our G8
agenda alongside African poverty,
I think that we [the government]
did lead the way." King
added, "But also, in setting
out in 2003 our energy program,
the government stated that by 2050
we will reduce our emissions by 60
percent. That was the most clear
statement from any government in
the world on action that was being
taken to deal with the
problem."
EPA
Estimates CO2 Control Costs as Low
as $1 Per Ton
A new
cost-benefit analysis by the US
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) indicates that carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions control
costs could be as low as $1 per
ton. The findings, announced
on October 27, are part of an
extensive comparison of several
pending legislative proposals
designed to cut emissions from
power plants in the United States.
The EPA compared the Bush
Administration’s Clear Skies
proposal, which advocates a
cap-and-trade approach for sulfur
dioxides, nitrogen oxides and
mercury, with alternative
proposals by Senators James
Jeffords (I-VT) and Thomas Carper
(D-DE). Sen. Jeffords’ Clean
Power Act and Sen. Carper’s
Clean Air Planning Act both
include mandatory emissions caps
for CO2 in addition to sulfur
dioxides, nitrogen oxides and
mercury. The Jeffords proposal
would cap CO2 emissions at 2.05
tons per year by 2010 while the
Carper proposal would cap
emissions at 2.65 billion tons per
year by 2009.
In the
EPA analysis, the controls for CO2
would cost as little as $1 per ton
if the Carper proposal was
adopted, while the Jeffords
proposal would cost $16 per ton of
CO2 emissions. The
Administration’s Clear Skies
proposal does not include
provisions for mandatory CO2
caps. These new findings call into
question the contention that
controlling CO2 emissions would
necessarily result in large cost
increases for utilities and
consumers.
Evangelical
Christians Push For Climate Change
Plan
The
National Association of
Evangelicals (NAE) plans to
release their first policy
statement on global warming in the
next few weeks. That statement
will likely call for mandatory
greenhouse gas controls, a policy
observers say could force the Bush
administration and some
conservative Republicans to choose
between supporting a key part of
their religious base and
fossil-fuel industry’s
long-standing opposition to
climate change legislation. The
group says it wants to reframe the
debate because climate change
legislation has been bogged down
in political fights between allies
of environmentalists and industry
on Capitol Hill. While sources
would not detail the contents of
the upcoming statement, leaders of
the effort suggest it would likely
endorse mandatory controls. “Do
I think we can get there on a
voluntary means? No,” says a top
official with NAE.
The
NAE source criticizes the climate
change position of Senate
Environment and Public Works
Committee Chairman James Inhofe
(R-OK), a leading skeptic of the
science supporting human
responsibility for climate change.
“I don’t buy what some people
say that this is not significantly
human-induced,” the source told
Inside Washington Publishers.
“And I don’t understand why
fellow evangelical Jim Inhofe
calls [climate change] a big
hoax.” The policy statement will
be signed by over 35 evangelical
leaders from across the country.
Africa
Aid Endangered by Climate Change
Costs
On
October 24, a letter from Lord May
of Oxford, the President of the
Royal Society, has warned Margaret
Beckett, the British Secretary of
State for Environment, Food &
Rural Affairs, and other G8 energy
and environment ministers that,
"As long as greenhouse gas
concentrations continue to rise,
there is the very real prospect
that the increase in aid agreed at
Gleneagles will be entirely
consumed by the mounting cost of
dealing with the added burden of
adverse effects of climate change
in Africa.... Therefore, if the
increase in aid and other measures
outlined in the Gleneagles action
plan on Africa are to create
maximum benefit, they must be
accompanied by effective action on
climate change by stopping the
inexorable rise of greenhouse gas
levels in the atmosphere."
G8
leaders—under the presidency of
British Prime Minister Tony
Blair—agreed at their July
summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to
spend $25 billion a year more on
Africa where poverty kills a child
every 10 seconds. They also agreed
to take a series of measures to
tackle global warming, which
scientists predict will put
millions of lives at risk—mainly
in the poorest countries—through
increased incidence of floods,
drought and rising sea levels.
However, while acknowledging that
human activities like burning
fossil fuels were a major
contributor to emissions of
greenhouse gases, they failed to
set any targets or deadlines for
action. Lord May wrote, "In
short, the scientific evidence now
presents a more compelling case
than ever before for tackling the
threat from climate change by
stopping the rise of greenhouse
gas levels in the
atmosphere."
EESI
Briefings
November
8, 2005
The
G8+5 Dialog and Upcoming COP/MOP
Conference in Canada
The Environmental
and Energy Study Institute
(EESI) presents a briefing to
hear from the British government
about the outcome of the G8+5
Climate Change Meeting to be
held November 1 in London and
from the Canadian government on
the upcoming 11th Annual
Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
(COP-11) and the first Meeting
of the Parties to the Kyoto
Protocol (MOP-1) in Montréal on
November 28 though December 9,
2005. The briefing will take
place from 2:00–3:30 pm,
Tuesday, November 8 in 124
Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The speakers will be posted in
the next edition of Climate
Change News. For more
information, please contact Fred
Beck at fbeck@eesi.org
or 202-662-1892, or click on the
following link for more
information: EESI
DVD’s
Available: Copies of
DVD's are available of EESI's
recent climate briefings:
"Agriculture and
Climate Change: Threats and
Opportunities," May
24, 2005; "What Does
Climate Change Mean for the
Arctic? How is Alaska Being
Affected?," March 15,
2005; "Perspectives on
Climate Change: Business
Initiatives to Reduce Greenhouse
Gas Emissions,"
November 18, 2004; “State
and Local Government Climate
Change Efforts,”
September 28, 2004; “Climate
Change Post 2100,”
September 21, 2004; “Abrupt
Climate Change,”
September 15, 2004; and “Discussing
Climate Change: A Multi-faceted
View of the Climate Stewardship
Act,” June 3, 2004. The
discs are $20 ea. (incl.
shipping/handling) plus tax
5.75% (DC residents only). Click
on the following link to order a
DVD: EESI
Climate Change DVD's
Events
November
1, 2005
Climate
& Oceans & Policy
Conference
The Royal Norwegian
Embassy is organizing the Third
Trans-Atlantic Cooperative
Research Conference with a theme
of "Climate & Oceans: Factual Observations, Predictions,
and Alternative Ways Forward."
The principal objective of the
Conference is to provide a
collaborative network arena for
front-line, solution-oriented
research relating to the
international climate regime.
Through its coverage of
substantial research topics, the
conference-sequence is intended to
foster further cooperation between
scientific and higher education
entities, as well as
industry-related institutions in
Norway and the US, and also providing
for participation from other
countries and relevant
multilateral institutions. The
event takes place Tuesday,
November 1, from 9:00am-6:00pm at
the Carnegie Institution, 1530 P
Street, NW, Washington, DC. Click
on the following link for more
information: Royal
Norwegian Embassy
November
14-16, 2005
US
Climate Change Science Program
Workshop
The US Climate
Change Science Program (CCSP) is
holding a workshop on November
14-16, 2005, at the Crystal
Gateway Marriott in Arlington,
Virginia—addressing the
capability of climate science to
inform decision-making. The
workshop will serve as a forum to
address the Program’s progress
and future plans. The workshop
will include discussion of
decision-maker needs for
scientific information on climate
variability and change, as well as
expected outcomes of CCSP’s
research and assessment activities
that are necessary for sound
resource management, adaptive
planning, and policy formulation.
There is a fee for this event.
Click on the following link for
more information: CCSP
November
15, 2005
Legal
Issues of Climate Change
The American
University Washington College of
Law is holding a conference on
"The Legal Dimensions of
Climate Change: A conference by
and for the Legal Profession"
which will cover: the importance
of climate change to lawyers;
national, state and municipal
policy initiatives; the global
perspective; and corporate risks
and opportunities. The event will
be held at American University at
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC on Tuesday,
November 15, from 8:30am-5:00pm.
The event is free but registration
is required. For more information
call 202-274-4075 or email secle@wcl.american.edu,
or click the following link: American
University
November 16, 2005
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
Implementation
The American Bar Association's
(ABA) Renewable Energy Resources
Committee will host a
teleconference with a panel of
experts who will discuss what is
happening with state Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS)
initiatives and look at some of
the key issues, such as renewable
energy credits, that have yet to
be resolved. The event takes
place on Wednesday, November 16
from 12:15-1:30 pm EDT.
There is a $20 charge for this
event. Click on the
following link for more
information: ABA
November
18, 2005
The Science of Predicting
Washington's Weather and Global
Climate
NBC4 Meteorologist
Chuck Bell and Dr. Antonio
Busalacchi from the University of
Maryland will address how weather
in the future may be impacted by
the changing climate, will explain
how to create a forecast from
real-life data, and speak about
climate modeling, including how
climate change and variability may
alter weather patterns in the
future, and what impact this may
have on the DC area. The event is
at the Marian Koshland Science
Museum on Friday, November 18 from
6:30-8:30pm. The museum is located
at the corner of 6th and E
Streets, NW in Washington, DC.
Reservations are required and
there is a $10 fee for this
event. Email ksm@nas.edu
or call 202.334.1201 to RSVP.
Click on the following link for
more information: Marian
Koshland Science Museum
This
weekly email-newsletter is
intended to inform
recipients of the latest
climate change-related
news. The newsletter is a
free EESI publication
intended for all
interested parties,
particularly the
policymaker community.
Issues are archived on our
website at www.eesi.org
under ‘Publications.’
For more information
regarding either the
newsletter or EESI, please
contact Fredric Beck at fbeck@eesi.org or
202-662-1892.
