Have YOU Ratified the Kyoto Protocol?
On Wednesday, February 16, the Kyoto Protocol will come into effect, mandating participating nations to reduce their emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases. Canada has ratified Kyoto. The United States has not.
Have you?
Not literally, of course. Individuals can't sign international treaties. They can, however, pledge to match its goals (summarized by World Resources Institute): a reduction of emissions in the United States to 7 percent below-and in Canada to 6 percent below-the 1990 level by 2008-2012.
Fifteen Cascadian localities have signaled their intent to follow or approximate Kyoto, as you can see in this list maintained by the International Center for Local Environmental Initiatives. (Overall, unfortunately, Cascadia's CO2 emissions have climbed by about 19 percent since 1990, as we documented in This Place on Earth 2002 (download the book, read pages 47-50).
Inspired by this leadership, I decided to make the pledge myself. A few days ago, I solemnly swore-OK, not so solemnly, but I did swear-I would reduce my family's emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases by at least 7 percent below our 1990 level.
Doomed to Repeat the Past?
Did the dinosaurs die out because of global warming? Well, sort of.
In an op-ed in Sunday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Peter Ward, a University of Washington professor of biology and earth and space sciences, takes a look at climate change through the unlikely lens of paleontology. Ward points out that prehistoric volcanic eruptions released enough carbon-dioxide into the atmosphere to radically alter the planet's climate, resulting in serious ecosystem disturbances and extinctions.
