Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

Climate Change Summary Newsletter and Commentary

December 14, 2009

Steven L. Hoch
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP

Dieting to a Greener Planet

Eat less meat and dairy to save the planet
The only way they’ll get my double cheese burger from me is to pry it from my cold dead hands.
A report issued in the UK by the government's independent advisory body on sustainability, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), calls for radical changes in patterns of consumption fight climate change and tackle the growing crisis of diet-related diseases. The report also recommends that people reduce energy consumption by shopping more on foot or over the internet and that they replace bottled water with tap water. SDC commissioner Professor Tim Lang said the recommendations represented the first coherent advice on a sustainable diet. "Cutting down on meat and dairy, eating only sustainably sourced fish, fruit and vegetables, would all help reduce the impact of our food system as well as improving health," he said. The study acknowledges that cutting processed food and reducing consumption of intensively-produced meat and dairy foods could lead to a shrinking of the UK food and drink industry. See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/11/eat-less-meat-dairy-diet

EPA Issues Endangerment Finding

GHG’s endanger public health and the environment
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.”
In a not so surprising finding, the EPA announced this week that GHGs threaten the public health and welfare of the American people. EPA also finds that GHG emissions from on-road vehicles contribute to that threat. EPA’s final findings respond to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that GHGs fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants. The findings do not in and of themselves impose any emission reduction requirements but rather allow EPA to finalize the GHG standards proposed earlier this year for new light-duty vehicles as part of the joint rulemaking with the Department of Transportation. EPA’s endangerment finding covers emissions of six key greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. See:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html


Free-market group to sue over endangerment finding
One step forward, two steps back.
Hours after U.S. EPA declared that greenhouse gases threaten public health, the Competitive Enterprise Institute warned that it will challenge the agency's endangerment finding in federal court. "EPA is clinging for dear life to the notion that the global climate models are holding up," said CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman. "In reality, those models are about to sink under the growing weight of evidence that they are fabrications," he added, citing the series of e-mails hacked from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which some skeptics say shows that researchers intentionally withheld climate data and sought to stifle competing theories. See: http://cei.org/news-release/2009/12/07/cei-will-file-suit-block-epa-endangerment-finding

Copenhagen

Leak of 'Danish text' causes outrage
Outrage is when they run out of cheese Danish and you have to get a bear claw.
A leaked negotiating text between wealthy nations at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen has drawn outrage from developing nations, who say that the draft would set unequal limits for 2050 carbon dioxide emissions and undermine the U.N.'s future role in climate negotiations. The text -- believed to be drafted by American, British and Danish leaders -- would hand effective control of climate change finance to the World Bank; discard any continuation of the Kyoto Protocol; and make climate adaptation aid contingent on nations taking a range of actions, among other areas. "It is being done in secret," said one diplomat, who asked for anonymity. "Clearly the intention is to get [Barack] Obama and the leaders of other rich countries to muscle it through when they arrive next week. It effectively is the end of the U.N. process." See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-summit-disarray-danish-text


1,200 limos, 140 private planes and other surprises
Gives the term “limousine liberal” a whole new meaning.
On a normal day, Majken Friss Jorgensen, managing director of Copenhagen's biggest limousine company, says her firm has twelve vehicles on the road. During the "summit to save the world", which opens here tomorrow, she will have 200. Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42, and because there are not enough limos in Denmark, some have had to be driven in from Sweden and Germany. The airport says it is expecting up to 140 extra private jets during the peak period alone, so far over its capacity that the planes will have to fly off to regional airports – or to Sweden – to park, returning to Copenhagen to pick up their VIP passengers. . According to the organizers, the eleven-day conference, including the participants' travel, will create a total of 41,000 tonnes of "carbon dioxide equivalent" equal to the amount produced over the same period by a small city. And this being Scandinavia, even the prostitutes are doing their bit for the planet. Outraged by a City Council postcard urging delegates to "be sustainable, don't buy sex," the local sex workers' union – they have unions here – has announced that all its 1,400 members will give free intercourse to anyone with a climate conference delegate's pass. At least the sex will be C02-neutral See:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6736517/Copenhagen-climate-summit-1200-limos-140-private-planes-and-caviar-wedges.html

Teeter-Totter

This decade warmest on record
Jane Auston: “What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance
The decade coming to a close this month will be the warmest on record, according to scientists. Over the past nine years, global temperatures averaged 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 1951-1980 average, NASA said. By the end of 2008, the 2000s had included eight of the 10 warmest years on record. By 2060, temperatures could rise 7 degrees Fahrenheit or more higher than pre-industrial levels, according to British-based scientists. Meanwhile, the last three summers melted Arctic sea ice more than at any point in modern history. See:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_re_us/decade_s_end_climate


EPA report shows 2008 emissions decline
Seems like we’re doing our share to cool things down.
According to the EPA, industrial emissions of toxic chemicals to the nation's air, soil and water declined 6 percent to 3.86 billion pounds from 2007 to 2008. Overall, toxic air releases decreased 14 percent in 2008. The numbers are drawn from the Toxics Release Inventory, or TRI, which summarizes reported emissions of 650 chemicals by 21,000 facilities. Two major sectors led the way in decreasing emissions, EPA said, which contributed to the overall decline. Electric utilities released 10 percent fewer emissions, while emissions from primary metal facilities decreased by 12 percent. See:
http://www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri08/national_analysis/index.htm


Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide ramps up aspen growth
Why aren’t we planting more?
A new study by scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota at Morris of natural stands of quaking aspen, one of North America's most important and widespread deciduous trees shows that elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the past 50 years have boosted aspen growth rates by an astonishing 50 percent. Previously, scientists have shown that plants and trees in growth chambers respond to levels of carbon dioxide well above levels in the atmosphere. The new study is the first to show that aspen in their native forest environments are already growing at accelerated rates due to rising ambient levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Previously, scientists have shown that plants and trees in growth chambers respond to levels of carbon dioxide well above levels in the atmosphere. The new study is the first to show that aspen in their native forest environments are already growing at accelerated rates due to rising ambient levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. See: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/uow-ggc120109.php


Boosting plants' pores could help fight warming
Now if we can get bigger pores on quaking aspens, we will have a real solution.
Japanese researchers from Kyoto University have found a way to make plant leaves absorb more carbon dioxide, which could help ease global warming. The team found that soaking germinated seeds from thale cress plants in a protein solution could as much as quadruple the number of pores on the leaves that inhale CO2 and release oxygen. The number of pores multiplied relative to the concentration of the solution. An ideal increase would be two to three times, so as not to impede the functions of other cells in the surface of the plant. See: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3D6pjBVhgJ-EU7RuquldJix5ohQ

Sea Level Rise

Rise in sea levels threatens California ports
As long as its just ports and not wine or brandy, its ok……oh, those ports.
Sea levels in California are expected to increase 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state, according to a report by the California State Lands Commission. By 2100, the ocean could rise as much as 55 inches, the report said. At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, rising water could damage ground-level facilities and toxic-waste storage sites. In Oakland, the site of the state's third-biggest port, higher water could cause flooding and impede the movement of goods on highways and by rail. The San Diego Unified Port District said a 55-inch rise was likely to result in substantial effects and flooding of some facilities in both urban and wildlife areas, according to the report. Santa Barbara officials reported that amount of rise "would basically flood or inundate the entire area, destroying most all facilities as currently constructed." See: http://www.slc.ca.gov/home_page_docs/SEA_LEVEL_Report.pdf

Cap and Trade

Australia Rejects Cap-And-Trade
Time to put another plan on the barbie.
Cap-and-trade proposal has been defeated for the second time this year in Australia. Though defeated in August, it looked as if the scheme might pass this time around after the opposition Liberal Party threw its much-needed support behind it. Then something unexpected happen: the Liberal Party’s rank-and-file revolted, throwing out its leader for a man who blasted the proposal in terms familiar to those following the U.S. debate, calling it a “great big tax on everything” and a “slush fund to provide politicized handouts run by a giant bureaucracy,” and arguing the scientific basis for the proposal was “absolute crap.” Also, the recent discovery of emails that cast some doubt on the science supporting global warming empowered conservative legislators to vote against the plan. See:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c73f6398-dfab-11de-98ca-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1


Internet short film takes on cap and trade
And not a Michael Moore in sight.
The group that put out a popular film on the perils of American consumerism recently launched a new animated short on the Internet called "The Story of Cap & Trade." The film suggests that a cap-and-trade plan allows for too many loopholes that would permit companies to cut down trees while simultaneously claiming credits, and that it gives free permits to pollute -- distracting from the real problem that society needs to make more sacrifices. See: http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/

Carbon Footprints

Most companies miss 80% of their carbon footprint
So its like you are just counting your toes and forgetting the rest of your foot.
When it comes to estimating their impact on the environment, most companies and organizations miss 80 percent of their carbon footprint, according to Climate Earth, a turnkey provider of enterprise carbon accounting solutions. “It’s more like a carbon toe print,” said Chris Erickson, Climate Earth founder and chief executive officer. “Companies primarily miss emissions that come from supply chains that feed into their products and services.” Climate Earth claims its approach to carbon accounting is unique because it is delivered as a full-service reporting solution and is developed with customers. Other companies provide software, which only gives customers tools to do their own analysis. Customers must then hire expert staff, learn to use the tool and be willing to stand behind their numbers. Furthermore, most software solutions do not identify the critical 80 percent of GHG emissions in the supply chain. See: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/b51197/climate-earth-most-companies-miss-80-of-carbon-footprint

California

California adopts model rule to reduce refrigeration-system GHGs
We need to make sure we can keep Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey cold because its getting warmer.
California officials have adopted a novel regulation to reduce high “global warming potential” (GWP) GHGs from large refrigeration systems, primarily by establishing an extensive leak detection and repair program that will be enforced by local air districts. The regulation is considered a model for other states and federal regulators as they look to address climate change through new rules on a variety of industry sectors. CARB adopted the “Regulation for Reducing Leaks of Potent GHGs from Commercial Refrigeration Systems.” The rule affects companies that operate systems that contain more than 50 pounds of “high GWP” refrigerant, and requires facility registration, leak detection and monitoring, leak repair, system retrofit and retirement, best service practices, and recordkeeping and reporting, according to the proposal. The rule is expected to apply to about 26,000 facilities in California, including supermarkets and grocery stores, food and beverage processors, cold storage warehouses and industrial process cooling. Other provisions of the rule apply to sellers and distributors of high GWP refrigerants. See:
http://carboncontrolnews.com/ccndocs/dec09/ccn12092009_fridge.pdf

Excuse of the Day

Bloomberg the Carbon Bigfoot
N.Y. Times excuses Mayor Bloomberg’s carbon consumption because he’s rich. If we aren’t rich we have no right to discuss these excesses. ……huh?
The New York Times takes some issue with Mayor Bloomberg for maybe being a bit hypocritical regarding climate change. He is seen my many New Yorkers as being out in front of the climate change battles. And while the Times points out that Mr. Bloomberg owns a helicopter and two jets, both Falcon 900s, “[h]e flies everywhere on private jets, by far the least efficient form of transportation on or above the earth. He takes his jet to Bermuda many weekends. He has flown around the globe on it. He uses it to go to Washington. He is planning to get to Copenhagen for the climate conference by private jet, too. The carbon math works out like this: by taking his Falcon 900 to Denmark, Mr. Bloomberg will be responsible for the release of 37 times the carbon dioxide than if he and his entourage flew on a scheduled commercial flight. His Falcon 900 carrying eight people from Newark to Copenhagen would produce 21.6 tons of carbon dioxide…Mr. Bloomberg’s routine trips to Bermuda are even more carbon costly: the private jet produces 130 times more emissions than going commercial.” But the Times concludes that this is “not Bloombergian hypocrisy; it is a paradox, shared by most of humankind...There is a long list of public figures — from movie stars to politicians to journalists — who preach conservation for everyone else, while living in mega-homes and flying in Gulfstreams. It is probably not a good idea for the rest of us to look down our noses at people who cannot resist such temptations until we can afford them ourselves”. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/nyregion/13about.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss