GWB's grand plan

Hi Everyone..

George W Bush has announced his plan to commit whoever has his job next to deal with climate change. One of the first things GWB did when he took office was retract from the Kyoto Protocol (the Clinton Administration was supportive). Now with his 8 year term coming to an end in November 08 he has promised to take action within 18months. Funny how he'll be leaving office in 18months... great timing George!. Bush is promising talk and cooperation, but all he as really done is delay action for the entirety of his presidency.

see: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/31/bush-climate.html (if you have the time, the CBC In Depth articles on Climate Change and Carbon Trading that are on this page are great reads.)

Although publicly the US doesn't agree with the Kyoto Protocol because it doesn't involve India and China, they also don't agree with a hard cap on emissions at all. What GWB and Stephen Harper are pushing for are "intensity" based emissions reductions. What a crafty piece of spin this is!!. Intensity based emissions are the emissions required per unit of economic output. I use the example of a Car Manufacturer, that emits 1 ton of carbon for every car that rolls off the line. They could reduce their emissions intensities by installing more efficient machinery to say 0.8tones per car, but if they produce 50% more cars, they are still emitting more.

The temperature increase in the atmosphere is directly related to the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere which now stands at 385ppm (Parts Per Million) and is raising about 2.5-2.7ppm/year. The atmosphere does not care how many cars, barrels of oil, or cell phones are made to create these emissions, therefore the only way to stop the increase of CO2 is through hard caps on total emissions. To the average person "reducing emissions intensity" sounds great, however, we need to push for more than that if we are going to make a difference.

Be aware of anyone that uses emissions intensities to prove a point. The CEO of Nova Scotia Power said last year that bringing more wind power on to the grid would actually increase emissions because their coal fired power plants would have to operate below their optimal efficiency. Even though the emissions intensities of those coal units would increase, the overall emissions will decrease with every turbine that is installed.

Thats all for now, until next time: Keep fit and have fun

Dan