My Plan to Fight Global Warming
March 28, 2007, revised March 31, 2008Affecting food production, incidence of disease and habitability 1, global warming poses a long-term threat to our quality of life, if not humanity's survival. Global average surface temperatures are now increasing at a rate of about 0.32° F per decade 2. Climate change, however, might not remain incremental. If a substantial portion of the polar ice cap melts (as it is beginning to do), the reflectivity of the earth's surface will be reduced and warming will accelerate. Global warming is therefore a real and urgent problem.
The scientific community now agrees that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity, primarily the combustion of fossil fuel. In order to halt global warming, mankind must reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases to an environmentally sustainable level. The United States bears a large responsibility in this because we are the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, producing about 23% of the worldwide total (figures for year 2003) 3. China's rapidly growing emissions may surpass those of the United States by this year (2007) 4. Nevertheless, since the United States accounts for only 4.6% of the world's population, the average American produces about five times the global per capita average.
Legislation to reduce our country's greenhouse gas emissions has been pending in Congress for several years. The Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act (S. 280) 5 would impose mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the commercial, industrial and transportation sectors. Unfortunately, the limits contained in that bill would not take effect until 2012 and would mandate reductions only gradually after that year. I fully support this proposed legislation as a long-term strategy, but I believe we need to act sooner than that.
Cars and light trucks produce more than 20% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 6. We can start by reducing emissions by these vehicles. With proper economic incentives, consumer preferences will shift to cars that are smaller and lighter with better mileage. Discretionary driving can be reduced. Over the longer term, businesses and workers can relocate to make commuting patterns more efficient. Ultimately, we will have to place greater reliance on transport by rail for both commuting and longer distance travel.
Passenger vehicles represent an emission source that is probably very sensitive to the price of gasoline. I would therefore favor an additional gasoline tax to curb passenger vehicle emissions, combined with a fixed-amount refundable credit. The credit would be designed to insure that the additional tax does not impose burdensome cost on any family or business that reduces their vehicle emissions to a environmentally sustainable level over time.
In addition, a tax on energy-inefficient incandescent light bulbs would accelerate the transition to fluorescent lighting.
Footnotes
1 Some effects of climate change: warming-induced drought could disrupt food production; elevated sea levels could make certain coastal areas, such as parts of Florida, uninhabitable; catastrophic storms such as hurricanes and tornados could become more frequent; warmer temperatures could make tropical disease more widespread; certain plant and animal species might be unable to adjust to changed habitat and could go extinct.
2 "During the past century, global surface temperatures
have increased at a rate near 0.11°F (0.06°C) per decade, but the rate
of increase has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.32°F (0.18°C)
per decade, with some of the largest temperature increases occurring in
the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere."
National Climatic Data Center, U.S. Department of Commerce, Climate
of 2007 - February in Historical Perspective, 15 March 2007,
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa
3, 4 Reuters/Yahoo News, China seen topping U.S.
carbon emissions in 2007, March 23, 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm
5 The proposed Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act (S. 280) would cap overall U.S. carbon emissions beginning in 2012 and then gradually reduce the limit to one third by the year 2050. It would accomplish this by issuing and allocating "allowances" to companies which directly produce carbon emissions (or which do so indirectly by producing carbon-emitting fuel). Companies which produce carbon emissions (or carbon-emitting fuel) in excess of their allocation would be required to purchase additional allowances. This would create the needed incentive to reduce emissions. Companies that achieve reductions greater than required would be able to sell their unused allowances to companies needing to purchase them.
6 Environmental Defense, Cars By The Numbers, March 20, 2007, http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=6083. See also Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 2005: 2. Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Report #: DOE/EIA-0573(2005), November 2006, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/carbon.html.