Home

Previous Entry | Next Entry

the environment is your responsibility. yes, you.

  • Feb. 21st, 2009 at 3:51 PM
bop | more than one way to
sometimes i notice that my friendslist is perhaps not as eco-focused as one might expect. maybe this is because we all avoid politics, or (even better) because it's just taken for granted.

but yeah, dudes. when it comes to the environment? we're fucked.

interesting environmental news: reid is hoping to get a climate change bill to the senate soon, and something signed into law this year. you may not quite understand how emissions trading works, or what global warming potential is, or why you might want to prefer a cap and trade program to a carbon tax (though, feel free to ask me if you'd actually like the answers to any of these questions), but you should definitely be interested and aware of global warming legislation getting out this year.

even if congress can't find its ass with two hands, it looks like the epa might finally act on the endangerment finding it was supposed to have dealt with under massachusetts v. epa two years ago. if it makes such a finding, it'll be obliged under the clean air act to regulate co2. and then things will get REALLY exciting.
  • Mood: uncomfortable

Tags:

Comments

( 6 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]notpoetry wrote:
Feb. 21st, 2009 09:52 pm (UTC)
Yeah, the endangerment finding thing is something we've been keeping an eye on at work. If something goes through, expect us to blow it up every night and start yelling. There's about 50 Bushed segments waiting to go on it.
| Reply | Thread
[info]quasiradiant wrote:
Feb. 21st, 2009 09:57 pm (UTC)
i'm thinking it looks close. i'm not entirely sure why the EPA would move on the EF if congress is going to do something about climate change by the end of the year, which might very well explicitly note that co2 isn't regulated under the clean air act but under the new legislation... but i guess there's a lot of judicial pressure to get something done.

and, of course, EPA wants to score points by looking like the good guys for the first time in a million years.

man, news is awesome.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]cthulhu_dream wrote:
Feb. 22nd, 2009 01:41 am (UTC)
New Zealand recently implemented a cap and trade type system with the goal of significantly reducing emissions (can't remember the exact percentage) by 2020. Unfortunately, a new government got in at the last election (November), and they are in favour of a much less effective plan of reducing emissions by the same amount by 2050. What good that will do, who knows. They are just very business friendly and think emission caps would harm the economy.

The problem is that dairy farmers in NZ have a lot of power, and the main emissions we have are methane from cow burps, a problem that could be solved or at least reduced by researching different kinds of cow feed, but could reduce the milk production of the cows, so they are not so keen on it.

NZ isn't a big emitter as a whole because there are so few people, but per capita it's pretty high. I talked to a farmer a couple of years ago who thought the whole global warming thing was some kind of government fearmongering and not a real problem. Pretty sad, because this is a common opinion amongst farmers here.
| Reply | Thread
[info]quasiradiant wrote:
Feb. 22nd, 2009 05:30 am (UTC)
a LOT of people think its just fearmongering or exaggeration or an outright lie. which i find rather shocking, in some ways, but somehow i can also understand it. it's easier to believe it's just a hoax or an exaggeration, because that would mean we didn't have to DO anything about it. eventually we'd discover it was all a crock, and we'd be happier because we didn't waste our time or money on it. and, of course, it's really complicated. hard to explain to people that some areas will get colder and then warmer, or warmer and then cooler and then even warmer. hard to explain that the oceans will change and that the land will change and that the plants in our area will change.

part of me gets sad to see any movement in countries with smaller emissions, because it makes me embarrassed to live in the biggest emitter and to know that we have done exactly nothing to prevent the changes that are going to occur and the consequences of those changes.

but that is to say: good luck on the cow burps...?
| Reply | Parent | Thread
[info]thenewhope wrote:
Feb. 22nd, 2009 04:56 am (UTC)
I say: let's just colonize the moon!

(that's so a lie, but. some dude on npr yesterday seemed totally into it, and. it's not the worst idea ever. maybe the second or third, but.)
| Reply | Thread
[info]quasiradiant wrote:
Feb. 22nd, 2009 05:31 am (UTC)
it's awfully cold there...
| Reply | Parent | Thread
( 6 comments — Leave a comment )