European Union Moves to Curb Carbon Dioxide Emissions
February 20th, 2007Now that the Great Backyard Birdcount is over, it’s time to move on to other issues of concern in the news.
For starters, there’s a story moving on the wires from this morning that the European Union has agreed that the 27-nation bloc should begin implementing measures to cut carbon dioxide emissions 20 percent by the year 2020. The EU statement said the group would support a steeper 30 percent target from 1990 levels if other industrialized nations would match European efforts to curb global warming.
But EU environment ministers must still find a way to agree on how they would reach their individual 20 percent targets, according to the Associated Press. One possibility is a compromise aimed at sharing the burden so that some nations would not be required to meet binding targets.
Also, the full statement on global climate change by the American Association on the Advancement of Science is now available on the group’s Website.
Approved by the board on Dec. 9 and released Monday, the statement says, in part:
“The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society. Accumulating data from across the globe reveal a wide array of effects: rapidly melting glaciers, destabilization of major ice sheets, increases in extreme weather, rising sea level, shifts in species ranges, and more. The pace of change and the evidence of harm have increased markedly over the last five years. The time to control greenhouse gas emissions is now.”
Now we will see how the Bush administration responds, as well as local weatherman James Spann and the Birmingham Baptist Association.
In the interest of passing on the full science information on an issue that has been inevitably politicized, the rest of the full statement is published below.
“The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, a critical greenhouse gas, is higher than it has been for at least 650,000 years. The average temperature of the Earth is heading for levels not experienced for millions of years. Scientific predictions of the impacts of increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and deforestation match observed changes. As expected, intensification of droughts, heat waves, floods, wildfires, and severe storms is occurring, with a mounting toll on vulnerable ecosystems and societies. These events are early warning signs of even more devastating damage to come, some of which will be irreversible.
Delaying action to address climate change will increase the environmental and societal consequences as well as the costs. The longer we wait to tackle climate change, the harder and more expensive the task will be.
History provides many examples of society confronting grave threats by mobilizing knowledge and promoting innovation. We need an aggressive research, development and deployment effort to transform the existing and future energy systems of the world away from technologies that emit greenhouse gases. Developing clean energy technologies will provide economic opportunities and ensure future energy supplies.
In addition to rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it is essential that we develop strategies to adapt to ongoing changes and make communities more resilient to future changes.
The growing torrent of information presents a clear message: we are already experiencing global climate change. It is time to muster the political will for concerted action. Stronger leadership at all levels is needed. The time is now. We must rise to the challenge. We owe this to future generations.”
Tags: Global Warming
