Concluding Thoughts

The future of environmental legislation looks dim for America. Just a few years ago, the U.S. was disparaging China for its incredible amount of pollution emitted into the atmosphere. However, unlike the U.S, China is taking fast, drastic measures to correct and reduce their emissions through clean energy. Although President Obama seems to be making steps in the right direction, we are far from meeting our efficiency goals.
Although COP15 presented high hopes for environmental legislation, little was accomplished. Many other countries have taken information from the Summit and have planned new environmental legislation. The U.S. needs to stop focusing on the war overseas and pay attention to what is inevitable, climate change. The U.S. government is so caught up in party divisions and angst for the new president to get anything done. Climate change is a huge problem that can't be solved with a divided government. In order to make steps in the right direction and implement new environmental legislation, the U.S. government needs to put their differences aside and pass a bill. Everyone knows how long a bill takes to pass, and time is running out. Therefore, we need to act now...before it's too late.



You may notice that we've said "government" a lot above. But, even if you're not in government, you too can take part in the push for environmental reform. In researching environmental legislation, we came across numerous sites that allowed people to access their Congressmen. As Americans, you have the right to influence your government officials and make a difference. Remember, American government is a democracy. Therefore, your word is just as valid as your representatives in government. So, please take part, no matter how big or small, everything counts.

This blog is just one example of how to spread the word and get involved. Thanks for your support. We are taking our blogging to extreme corners of the world, unfortunately there is no internet there. When we come back we'll tell you about our experiences...probably not. But it's been fun! So get out there and BLOG IT UP!!

The future? China is pulling ahead...can the U.S. keep up in this Green Revolution?

Who’s Sleeping Now?

• • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MiMySpaceYahoo!BuzPermali

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: January 9, 2010

Hong Kong

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

C. H. Tung, the first Chinese-appointed chief executive of Hong Kong after the handover in 1997, offered me a three-sentence summary the other day of China’s modern economic history: “China was asleep during the Industrial Revolution. She was just waking during the Information Technology Revolution. She intends to participate fully in the Green Revolution.”

I’ll say. Being in China right now I am more convinced than ever that when historians look back at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they will say that the most important thing to happen was not the Great Recession, but China’s Green Leap Forward. The Beijing leadership clearly understands that the E.T. — Energy Technology — revolution is both a necessity and an opportunity, and they do not intend to miss it.

We, by contrast, intend to fix Afghanistan. Have a nice day.

O.K., that was a cheap shot. But here’s one that isn’t: Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, liked to say that companies come to “strategic inflection points,” where the fundamentals of a business change and they either make the hard decision to invest in a down cycle and take a more promising trajectory or do nothing and wither. The same is true for countries.

The U.S. is at just such a strategic inflection point. We are either going to put in place a price on carbon and the right regulatory incentives to ensure that America is China’s main competitor/partner in the E.T. revolution, or we are going to gradually cede this industry to Beijing and the good jobs and energy security that would go with it.

Is President Obama going to finish health care and then put aside the pending energy legislation — and carbon pricing — that Congress has already passed in order to get through the midterms without Republicans screaming “new taxes?” Or is he going to seize this moment before the midterms — possibly his last window to put together a majority in the Senate, including some Republicans, for a price on carbon — and put in place a real U.S. engine for clean energy innovation and energy security?

I’ve been stunned to learn about the sheer volume of wind, solar, mass transit, nuclear and more efficient coal-burning projects that have sprouted in China in just the last year.

Here’s e-mail from Bill Gross, who runs eSolar, a promising California solar-thermal start-up: On Saturday, in Beijing, said Gross, he announced “the biggest solar-thermal deal ever. It’s a 2 gigawatt, $5 billion deal to build plants in China using our California-based technology. China is being even more aggressive than the U.S. We applied for a [U.S. Department of Energy] loan for a 92 megawatt project in New Mexico, and in less time than it took them to do stage 1 of the application review, China signs, approves, and is ready to begin construction this year on a 20 times bigger project!”

Yes, climate change is a concern for Beijing, but more immediately China’s leaders know that their country is in the midst of the biggest migration of people from the countryside to urban centers in the history of mankind. This is creating a surge in energy demand, which China is determined to meet with cleaner, homegrown sources so that its future economy will be less vulnerable to supply shocks and so it doesn’t pollute itself to death.

In the last year alone, so many new solar panel makers emerged in China that the price of solar power has fallen from roughly 59 cents a kilowatt hour to 16 cents, according to The Times’s bureau chief here, Keith Bradsher. Meanwhile, China last week tested the fastest bullet train in the world — 217 miles per hour — from Wuhan to Guangzhou. As Bradsher noted, China “has nearly finished the construction of a high-speed rail route from Beijing to Shanghai at a cost of $23.5 billion. Trains will cover the 700-mile route in just five hours, compared with 12 hours today. By comparison, Amtrak trains require at least 18 hours to travel a similar distance from New York to Chicago.”

China is also engaged in the world’s most rapid expansion of nuclear power. It is expected to build some 50 new nuclear reactors by 2020; the rest of the world combined might build 15.

“By the end of this decade, China will be dominating global production of the whole range of power equipment,” said Andrew Brandler, the C.E.O. of the CLP Group, Hong Kong’s largest power utility.

In the process, China is going to make clean power technologies cheaper for itself and everyone else. But even Chinese experts will tell you that it will all happen faster and more effectively if China and America work together — with the U.S. specializing in energy research and innovation, at which China is still weak, as well as in venture investing and servicing of new clean technologies, and with China specializing in mass production.

This is a strategic inflection point. It is clear that if we, America, care about our energy security, economic strength and environmental quality we need to put in place a long-term carbon price that stimulates and rewards clean power innovation. We can’t afford to be asleep with an invigorated China wide awake.

Environmental Issue 2: Energy

http://http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8501.htm


Energy...yikes. Where to begin?? The Energy crisis has been a huge topic of discussion in the past few years. Fossil fuels are running out and polluting the environment at the same time. We desperately need to find new sources of energy. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy are on the forefront of discussions, however, little has been done to implement these sources of energy. On January 8, President Obama took a huge step and distributed $2.3 billion for clean new-tech manufacturing jobs. This is good for the environment and provides many unemployed people with jobs. This is a great, yet bold, step in the right direction.

http://"President Obama Awards $2.3 Billion for New Clean-Tech Manufacturing Jobs." U.S. Department of Energy. 8 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8501.htm.

Environmental Issue 1: Climate Change

Greenhouse Gases Reached Dangerous Tipping Point a Full Ten Years Ahead of Expectations
The total "long-term" carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached 455 parts per million back in 2005. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report) It had not been expected to reach this level for a decade and is considered a tipping point.

"The amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is already above the threshold that can potentially cause dangerous climate change. We are already at risk...It's not next year or next decade, it's now." (Tim Flannery, climate change expert) (1), (2).

Scientist Chris Field from the IPCC says the current trajectory of climate change is now much worse than the IPCC had originally projected in part due to China and India's increasing reliance on coal power.

The research shows carbon emissions have grown sharply since 2000, despite growing concerns about climate change. During the 1990s, carbon emissions grew by less than 1% per year. Since 2000, emissions have grown at a rate of 3.5% per year. No part of the world had a decline in emissions from 2000 to 2008.

Earlier this month, Field told the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

"We are basically looking now at a future climate beyond anything we've considered seriously in climate model situations." (1)

Report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world in 2007 amounted to a climate change "mega disaster"..."We are seeing the effects of climate change. Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest...this is here and now, this is with us already." (Under-Secretary General John Holmes) ... Two years ago only half the international disasters dealt with by OCHA had anything to do with the climate; this year all but one of the 14 emergency appeals is climate-related.... The OCHA appeals represent the tip of an iceberg since they are launched only with the agreement of the affected country. (3) (learn more at OCHA)

Unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth. (350.org)

"Greenhouse Gases Reached Dangerous Tipping Point a Full Ten Years Ahead of Expectations." Global Stewards. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. .

People aren't taking climate change seriously

http://media.mmgcommunity.topscms.com/images/39/a9/7be0a8f045f195572ffee65e361a.jpeg


Guys...climate change is real. No matter how much we deny it, it's true and it's here. The people of the U.S. need to stop arguing about whether climate change is real or not, and start talking about how to fix it. Most other countries in the world are already making huge steps in enforcing environmental protection laws and changing their ways of life. But for our country to move forward in the environmental movement, we also need our government to step in and DO SOMETHING. Our governmental officials need to stop sitting around and ACT!


http://lurieunaward.com/Images%202008/1rst%20prize%20-%20big.jpg


They may try to convince you that climate change does not need to be solved and that it would cost too much money to do anything about it. But...can you put a price tag on the earth? On humanity?




http://www.getliberty.org/content_images/Cartoon%20-%20Global%20Warming%20Kool%20Aid%20%28500%29.jpg

but it's not all about copenhagen...it's the BIG picture

Soooo we've been discussing Copenhagen a lot these days because it is the most current and relevant event in the environmental movement in government. However, it's over. And although there were high hopes for the summit, little came out of it.

Therefore....we're going to move on to discussing environmental issues and legislation in the U.S.

....we know you can't wait for our next post. But, hold your horses. It is a Monday morning...

unfortunately....there was no sealing...

http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/uploads/page/206/high-resolution-seal-the-deal-logo.jpg

visual effort to promote environmental legislation at Copenhagen!!