Carbon dioxide emissions amongst five other greenhouse gases may endanger human health and well-being according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on a review of scientific evidence.
The EPA cites a number of impacts that may impact significantly on US citizens, including:
- (1) an increased risk of droughts and floods
- (2) sea level rise
- (3) more intense storms and heatwaves
- (4) harm to water supplies, agriculture and wildlife
STOP: Okay, these are the same impacts that have been predicted as the likely outcomes of climate change and in some cases, these are not future events, these are occurrences that are being recorded on a daily basis all over the world, America included.
In Africa according to a recent report- there has been megadroughts lasting for centuries when the earth has entered a warming phase, which is part of the normal pattern in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the stress of a warming world will make these dry periods more severe and more difficult for the people who live there, the temperatures are expected to rise by 5 to 10 degrees F (2.77 to 5.55 degrees C) this century, the scientists said, even if there is some curbing of the greenhouse emissions that spur climate change. Does it mean that it is too late to do something? Maybe, there is still hope.
Lets find out what other gases are culprits to the EPA judgement before we move to the mathematics; the other gases that are contributing to the warming of the earth- Methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).
Obviously most of us do not know where the other gases come from but at least everyone knows where Carbon Dioxide comes from; primarily the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon Dioxide is an easy gas to target, and since it is linked to commerce, the Cap and Trade is specifically looking at taking care of that problem.
What about the other 5 offenders? Where do they come from and how do we deal with them? That is a hard question since I have not heard of a lucrative market for Cap and Trade for Methane (well unless you are building a biogas units), methane is a more diffuse gas that is found nearly everywhere there are bovines!
Nitrous Oxide and the rest, I have to do my home work.
Now going to Africa, somehow, when we thought that the REDD and CDM was being designed to give African nations some respite to climate change “ills” deivered to them by the development in the west, somehow, the question of the black soot is all over the place. The soot produced by our bad cooking methods is to blame for 20% of the global warming (!) now that is serious, we have been saying all along that Africa or the developing countries have contributed the least to climate change, but now that argument is somehow getting, well a bit to complex to shove….. A report in January by NASA, and recently rehashed by NY Times is putting a twist in African Equation to the Carbon footprint and climate change as we approach COP 15, African Civil Society, wake up and sniff the soot! There is something burning!
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