Responding to Climate Change

1. AP Environmental Science Mr. Grant Lesson 51 Responding to Climate Change

2. Objectives: • Define the term Kyoto Protocol. • Suggest ways we may respond to global climate change. • TED - With the same humor and humanity he exuded in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore spells out 15 ways that individuals can address climate change immediately, from buying a hybrid to inventing a new, hotter "brand name" for global warming. • TED - In this brand-new slideshow (premiering on TED.com), Al Gore presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists recently predicted. He challenges us to act.

3. Define the term Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto Protocol: An agreement drafted in 1997 that calls for reducing, by 2012, emissions of six greenhouse gases to levels lower than their levels in 1990. Although the United States has refused to ratify the protocol, it came into force in 2005 when Russia ratified it, the 127th nation to do so.

4. Suggest ways we may respond to global climate change. • Both adaptation and mitigation are necessary for responding to climate change. • Conservation, energy efficiency, and new clean and renewable energy sources will help reduce greenhouse emissions. • New automotive technologies and investment in public transportation will help reduce emissions. • Addressing climate change will require multiple strategies. • The Kyoto Protocol provided a first step for nations to begin addressing climate change.

5. Suggest ways we may respond to global climate change. • Despite failure of the Copenhagen conference, nations are continuing efforts to design a treaty to follow the Kyoto Protocol. • U.S. states and cities are acting to address emissions because the federal government has not. • Emissions trading programs provide a way to harness the free market and engage industry in reducing emissions. • Many people feel a carbon tax, specifically a fee-and-dividend approach, is a better option. • Individuals are increasingly exploring carbon offsets and other means of reducing personal carbon footprints.

6. Shall we pursue mitigation or adaptation? • Most people accept that our planet is changing • They are searching for solutions • Mitigation = pursue actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions to lessen severity of future climate change • Energy efficiency, renewable energy, protecting soil, preventing deforestation • Adaptation = accept that climate change is happening • Pursue strategies to minimize its impacts on us • Seawalls, leaving the area, coping with drought, etc. • Both are necessary

7. We need both adaptation and mitigation • Adaptation: even if we stopped all emissions, warming would continue • Mitigation: if we do nothing, we will be overwhelmed by climate changes The faster we reduce our emissions, the less we will alter the climate

8. Electricity generation A coal-fired, electricity-generating power plant • The largest source of U.S. CO2 emissions • 70% of electricity comes from fossil fuels • Coal causes 50% of emissions • To reduce fossil fuel use: • Encourage conservation and efficiency • Switch to cleaner and renewable energy sources

9. Conservation and efficiency • We can make lifestyle choices to reduce electricity use • Use fewer greenhouse-gas-producing appliances • Use electricity more efficiently • The EPA’s Energy Star Program rates appliances, lights, windows, etc. by their energy efficiency • Replace old appliances with efficient ones • Use compact fluorescent lights • Use efficient windows, ducts, insulation, heating and cooling systems

10. Sources of electricity • We need to switch to clean energy sources • Nuclear power, biomass energy, solar, wind, etc. • We need to consider how we use fossil fuels • Switching from coal to natural gas cuts emissions 50% • Cogeneration produces fewer emissions • Carbon capture = removes CO2 from power plant emissions • Carbon sequestration (storage) = storing carbon underground where it will not seep out • Use depleted oil and gas deposits, salt mines, etc. • We can’t store enough CO2 to make a difference

11. Transportation • 2nd largest source of U.S. greenhouse gases • Cars are inefficient • Ways to help: • More efficient cars • Hybrid or electric cars • Drive less and use public transportation • Live near your job, so you can bike or walk • U.S. public transportation saves 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline and 37 million metric tons of CO2 emissions

12. Conventional cars are inefficient

13. We can reduce emissions in other ways • Agriculture: sustainable land management lets soil store more carbon • Reduce methane emissions from rice and cattle • Grow renewable biofuels • Forestry: reforest cleared land, preserve existing forests • Sustainable forestry practices • Waste management: treating wastewater • Generating electricity by incinerating waste • Recovering methane from landfills • Individuals can recycle, compost, reduce, or reuse goods

14. We need to follow multiple strategies • There is no magic bullet for mitigating climate change • Most reductions can be achieved using current technology that we can use right away • Stabilization triangle = a portfolio of strategies, each one feasible in itself, that could stabilize CO2 emissions • Reducing 1 billion tons of carbon per year for 50 would eliminate one of the seven “wedges” • This approach is not enough – we need to reduce, not only stabilize, emissions

15. Strategies to stabilize CO2 emissions • 15 strategies could each take care of one wedge

16. The FCCC U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change = a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000 through a voluntary, nation-by-nation approach By the late 1990s, it was clear that the voluntary approach would not succeed Developing nations created a binding international treaty requiring emission reductions The Kyoto Protocol = between 2008 and 2012, signatory nations must reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases to levels below those of 1990

17. The Kyoto Protocol tried to limit emissions This treaty took effect in 2005 After Russia became the 127th nation to ratify it The United States will not ratify the Kyoto Protocol It requires industrialized nations to reduce emissions But it does not require industrializing nations (China and India) to reduce theirs Other countries resent the U.S. because it emits 20% of the world’s greenhouse gases but won’t take action In 2007, one delegate said, “If for some reason you are not willing to lead...please get out of the way.”

18. The Copenhagen conference The conference in 2009 tried to design a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol Nations hoped the U.S., under President Obama, would participate in a full international agreement Obama would not promise more than Congress had agreed to In a last-minute deal, developed nations will help developing nations pay for mitigation and adaptation Nations that reduce deforestation will be rewarded Nothing is legally binding and no targets are set

19. Will emissions cuts hurt the economy? • The U.S. Senate feels emissions reductions will hurt the economy • China and India also resist emissions cuts • Economic vitality does not need higher emissions • Germany cut emissions by 21%, the U.K. by 17% • Industrialized nations will gain from energy transitions • They invent, develop, and market new technologies • The future will belong to nations willing to develop new technologies and energy sources

20. States and cities are advancing policies • The U.S. federal government is not taking action • State and local governments are • By 2010, 1,000 mayors signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement • To meet or beat Kyoto Protocol guidelines • California passed the Global Warming Solutions Act • To cut emissions 25% by 2020 • Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in 2007 • 10 northeastern states • Set up a cap-and-trade program

21. Market mechanisms address climate change Permit trading programs harness the economic efficiency of the free market to achieve policy goals Businesses have flexibility in how they meet the goals Polluters choose how to cut their emissions They are given financial incentives to reduce them

22. Cap-and-trade emissions trading programs • The approach of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative: • Each state decides which polluting sources participate • Each state sets a cap on total CO2 emissions it allows • Each emissions source gets one permit for each ton they emit, up to the amount of the cap • Each state lowers its cap over time • States with too few permits must reduce emissions, buy permits from others, or pay for carbon offsets • Sources with too many permits may sell them • Any source emitting more than permitted will be penalized

23. Cap-and-trade programs already exist • Chicago Climate Exchange = the world’s first emissions trading program for greenhouse gas reduction • 350 corporations, institutions, etc. • Voluntary but legally binding trading system aims for a 6% reduction in emissions by 2010 • The European Union Emission Trading Scheme • The world’s largest cap-and-trade program • Governments had allocated too many permits • Permits only work if government policies limit emissions

24. Carbon taxes are another option • Critics say cap-and-trade systems are not effective • Carbon tax = governments charge polluters a fee for each unit of greenhouse gases they emit • Polluters have a financial incentive to reduce emissions • European nations, British Columbia, and Boulder, Colorado have carbon taxes • Polluters pass costs on to consumers • Fee-and-dividend = funds from the carbon tax (fee) are passed to taxpayers as refunds (dividends)

25. Carbon offsets are popular Carbon offset = a voluntary payment intended to enable another entity to reduce the greenhouse emissions that one is unable to reduce oneself The payments offset one’s own emissions Popular among utilities, businesses, universities, governments, and individuals Trying to achieve carbon-neutrality, where no net carbon is emitted Carbon offsets fall short Needs rigorous oversight to make sure that the offset money accomplishes what it is intended for

26. You can reduce your carbon footprint Carbon footprint = expresses the amount of carbon we are responsible for emitting People may apply many strategies to decrease their footprint College students must help drive personal and societal changes needed to mitigate climate change Global climate change may be the biggest challenge facing us and our children With concerted action, we can avert the most severe impacts

27. The International Day of Climate Action • On October 24, 2009, 5,200 events were held in 181 nations • “The most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history”

28. TED Video Once the US Vice President, then star of An Inconvenient Truth, now Nobel Peace Prize winner, Al Gore found a way to focus the world's attention on climate change. In doing so, he has invented a new medium -- the Keynote movie -- and reinvented himself. Al Gore on averting climate crisis (16:15) With the same humor and humanity he exuded in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore spells out 15 ways that individuals can address climate change immediately, from buying a hybrid to inventing a new, hotter "brand name" for global warming.

29. TED Video Once the US Vice President, then star of An Inconvenient Truth, now Nobel Peace Prize winner, Al Gore found a way to focus the world's attention on climate change. In doing so, he has invented a new medium -- the Keynote movie -- and reinvented himself. Al Gore's new thinking on the climate crisis (27:52) In this brand-new slideshow (premiering on TED.com), Al Gore presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists recently predicted. He challenges us to act.