Kyoto: 10 years later and we're still at square one

By Bill McKibben

I remember so well the final morning hours of the Kyoto conference. The negotiations had gone on long past their scheduled evening close, and the convention-center management was frantic -- a trade show for children's clothing was about to begin, and every corner of the vast hall still was littered with the carcasses of the sleeping diplomats who had gathered in Japan to draw up a first-ever global treaty to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. But when word finally came that an agreement had been reached, people roused themselves with real enthusiasm -- lots of backslapping and hugs.

A long decade after the first powerful warnings had sounded, it seemed that humans were finally rising to the greatest challenge we'd ever faced.

The only long face in the hall belonged to William O'Keefe, chairman of the Global Climate Coalition, otherwise known as the American coal, oil and car lobby. He'd spent the week coordinating the resistance -- working with Arab delegates and Russian industrialists to sabotage the emerging plan. And he'd failed. "It's in free fall now," he said, stricken. But then he straightened his shoulders and said, "I can't wait to get back to Washington where we can get things under control.

"I thought he was whistling past the graveyard. In fact, he knew far better than the rest of us what the future would hold. He knew it would be at least another decade before anything changed.

Ten years warmer

The important physical-world reality to know about the 10 years after Kyoto is that they included the warmest years on record.

All of the warmest years on record.In that span of time, we've come to understand that not only is the globe warming, but also that we'd dramatically underestimated the speed and the size of that warming. By now, the data from the planet outstrips the scientific prediction on an almost daily basis. Earlier this fall, for instance, the melt of Arctic sea ice beat the old record. Beat it in mid-August, and then the ice kept melting for six more weeks, losing an area the size of California every week. "Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts," the headline in The New York Times reported. And they were shaken by rapid changes in tundra-permafrost systems, not to mention rain-forest systems, temperate-soil carbon-sequestration systems, oceanic-acidity systems.

We've gone from a problem for our children to a problem for right about now, as evidenced by, oh, Hurricane Katrina, California wildfires, epic droughts in the Southeast and Southwest. And that's just the continental United States. Go to Australia sometime: It's gotten so dry there that native Aussie Rupert Murdoch recently announced that his News Corp. empire was going carbon neutral.

The important political-world reality to know about the 10 years after Kyoto is that we haven't done anything.

Oh, we've passed all kinds of interesting state and local laws, wonderful experiments that have begun to show just how much progress is possible. But in Washington, D.C., nothing. No laws at all. Until last year, when the GOP surrendered control of Congress, even the hearings were a joke, with "witnesses" like novelist/skeptic Michael Crichton.

And as a result, our emissions have continued to increase. Worse, we've made not the slightest attempt to shift China and India away from using their coal. Instead of an all-out effort to provide the resources so they could go renewable, we've stood quietly by and watched from the sidelines as their energy trajectories shot out of control: The Chinese now are opening a new coal-fired plant every week. History will regard even the horror in Iraq as one more predictable folly next to this novel burst of irresponsibility.

A hint of a movement

If you're looking for good news, there is some.

For one thing, we understand the technologies and the changes in habit that can help. The last 10 years have seen the advent of hybrid cars and the widespread use of compact fluorescent light bulbs. Wind power has been the fastest-growing source of electric generation throughout the period. Japan and then Germany have pioneered with great success the subsidy scheme required to put millions of solar panels up on rooftops.

Even more important, a real movement has begun to emerge in this country. It began with Katrina, which opened eyes. Al Gore gave those eyes something to look at: His movie made millions realize just what a pickle we were in. Many of those, in turn, became political activists. Earlier this year, six college students and I launched stepitup07.org, which has organized almost 2,000 demonstrations in all 50 states. Last month, the student climate movement drew 7,000 hardworking kids from campuses all over the country for a huge conference. We've launched a new grassroots coalition, 1sky.org, that will push both Congress and the big Washington environmental groups.

All this work has tilted public opinion -- new polls actually show energy and climate change high on the list of issues that voters care about, which in turn has made the candidates take notice. All the Democrats are saying more or less the right things, though none of them, save John Edwards, is saying them with much volume.

The race of all time

Now it's a numbers game. Can we turn that political energy into change fast enough to matter? On the domestic front, the numbers look like this: We've got to commit to reductions in carbon emissions of 80 percent by 2050, and we've got to get those cuts underway fast -- 10 percent in just the next few years. Markets will help -- if we send them the information that carbon carries a cost. Only government can do that.

Two more numbers we're pushing for: zero, which is how many new coal-fired power plants we can afford to open in America, and 5 million, which is how many green jobs Congress needs to provide for the country's low-skilled workers. All that insulation isn't going to stuff itself inside our walls, and those solar panels won't crawl up on the roofs by themselves. You can't send the work to China, and you can't do it with a mouse: This is the last big chance to build an economy that works for most of us.

Internationally, the task is even steeper. The Kyoto Accord, which we ignored, expires in a couple of years. Negotiations began this month in Bali to strike a new deal, and it's likely to be the last bite at the apple we'll get -- miss this chance and the climate likely spirals out of control. We have a number here, too: 450, as in parts-per-million carbon dioxide. It's the absolute upper limit on what we can pour into the atmosphere, and it will take a heroic effort to keep from exceeding it. This is a big change -- even 10 years ago, we thought the safe level might be 550. But the data is so clear: The Earth is far more finely balanced than we thought, and our peril much greater. Our foremost climate scientist, NASA's James Hansen, testified under oath in a courtroom last year that if we didn't stop short of that 450 red line, we could see the sea level rise 20 feet before the century was out. That's civilization-challenging. That's a carbon summer to match any nuclear winter that anyone ever dreamed about.

It's a test, a kind of final exam for our political, economic and spiritual systems. And it's a fair test, nothing vague or fuzzy about it. Chemistry and physics don't bargain. They don't compromise. They don't meet us halfway. We'll do it or we won't. And 10 years from now, we'll know which path we chose.

url: http://www.athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=30198

2007: Top 10 space stories

Seething activity on the Sun, Martian caves and bizarre black holes were among the most clicked-on subjects of the year.
1. Dazzling new images reveal the 'impossible' on the Sun
Japan's Hinode telescope revealed the restless frothing of the Sun's surface in astonishing detail.
2. Strange Martian feature not a 'bottomless' cave after all
An extremely dark feature on Mars was found to be just a pit – not the entrance to a deep cavern that future astronauts could call home.
3. Could black holes be portals to other universes?
A study suggested that the objects thought to be black holes could instead be wormholes leading to exotic cosmic locales.
4. Mars probe may have spotted lost rover
In 1997, NASA lost contact with its Pathfinder lander and tiny Sojourner rover, but a decade later, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's eagle eyes spied them both.
5. Satellites solve mystery of low gravity over Canada
A satellite pair called GRACE answered a weighty question: why does Canada have such low gravity?
6. Do black holes really exist?
A controversial study suggested that matter may never collapse completely into a black hole, an idea that would solve a troubling quantum paradox.
7. Satellite snaps first images of mysterious glowing clouds
NASA's new AIM satellite took its first data on silvery blue 'noctilucent' clouds, which may be linked to global warming.
8. Strange alien world made of 'hot ice'
The smallest planet known to pass in front of its host star was found. Intriguingly, it may be made of exotic hot ice and shrouded in steam.
9. Satellite could see shadow of extra dimensions
Researchers calculated that if our 3D universe is floating in a higher dimensional space, the shape of those extra dimensions might be detectable by Europe's Planck satellite, set to launch in 2008.
10. Atom smasher may give birth to 'Black Saturns'
Physicists said tiny, ringed black holes resembling Saturn might be produced at the Large Hadron Collider, set to open in 2008.


source:http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13118-2007-top-10-space-stories.html

Google Googles Green... Sometimes

Google is a leader in the IT industry, and garners the respect of millions of people around the globe for everything from its search platform to Google Earth. And like many companies recently, Google poses itself as a leader in its environmental practices as well. Does Google live up to its image and its purported environmental friendliness? Although Google has implemented some policies that go far in helping Mother Earth, the company does seem to have a split personality when it comes to being a role model for other industry leaders.

The Good

Google has a few high profile initiatives that are setting the bar high for environmental practices. Google offers its full-time staffers subsidies to purchase high-efficiency personal vehicles that achieve 45 miles per gallon or better. Google also offers its employees incentives for ridesharing, as well as a fleet of biodiesel shuttles that pick up Googlers at stops throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to the free transit to and from work, Google offers a car-sharing program that allows those employees that did not bring their own car to work the use of a car for errands during the day.

RechargeIT.org is the initiative under Google.org (Google's philanthropic foundation) that is overseeing Google's hybrid and experimental plug-in hybrid program. The foundation also just announced that it is seeking to invest a total of $10 million in non-profit groups that are working on hybrid technology.

Google has also recently installed what may be the largest corporate solar panel installation in the US. The new panels at the Mountain View campus will generate 1.6 megawatts of electricity to offset the campus' consumption. Google is also working on reducing the energy that it uses by tweaking every computer's energy management software to save the 50 to 60 percent of electricity that an idle computer wastes.

Furthermore, Google is working with Intel on a "Climate Savers Computing Initiative" to reduce energy consumption industry-wide, and Google has announced that it will be joining the Green Grid, another industry initiative to improve energy efficiency. Google is also building new server centers at locations where renewable energy is available. For example, a new center in The Dalles in Oregon will be close to a hydroelectric dam, and will also use water from the Columbia River to cool the server rooms, that will in turn reduce the need for air conditioning.Google announced this summer that in addition to reduced energy consumption and increased efficiency, Google will strive to become carbon neutral by the end of 2007. Whatever carbon emissions remain after energy efficiency measures are implemented will be taken care of by purchasing carbon offsets.

The Bad

The biggest issue with Google's environmental practices is that no matter how much the company claims to reduce its energy consumption, Google refuses to divulge how much energy the company uses, claiming it's a competitive business and that knowledge of its energy usage becoming public could be damaging. Essentially that means that we have to take Google at its word rather than have some numbers to evaluate and compare. With no clearly defined reductions, Google's pledge to become carbon neutral seems hollow and ambiguous. Furthermore, Google claims to be advocating for public policies to encourage green technology, but this move is also not backed up by any specific instances.Also, it is hard to take a company's environmental policies seriously when the top Google executives purchase a Boeing 767 and have it refurbished as a "party plane." A normal 767 can accommodate 180 passengers, but the Google Jet's new format can carry only 50 passengers, and instead has several suites in which the co-founders and the CEO have bedrooms with king-sized beds. Google has no formal relationship with the plane as it is owned through a third-party. The New York Times reported that the Google brass have recently purchased an additional 757.In addition to environmental issues, Google is also facing scrutiny over its labor practices in China, as well as censorship in China. Last year, Google agreed to filter searches that used words like democracy or Tibet, and Reporters Without Borders found that pro-Beijing sites would be offered if such a search were conducted. And yet, Google had no safeguards for distributing child pornography in Brazil last year, and faces possible criminal investigation for not revealing the source of the material. Google claims that it has no control over its social networking site, Orkut, which is where the pornography was found.

The Google

Google has some good ideas when it comes to reducing its carbon footprint, but most of those ideas are still just that -- ideas with no clearly defined goals. If Google wants to show that it is serious about reducing its energy consumption, it would be in its best interest to publicly state by how much Google will indeed reduce the amount of electricity it currently uses.

Also, though it's admirable that Google is using hydroelectric power from an Oregon dam, dams are usually destructive to the environment in their own way and using the river to cool server rooms will in turn heat the water that will be released back into the environment. In addition, Google does not delineate how other server centers to be built in North and South Carolina, Iowa and Oklahoma will be using renewable energy.

Furthermore, biodiesel has its own downside; fossil fuels are used in current farming practices and the carbon released usually outweighs the carbon saved. Producing crops for making biofuels requires the use of more and more green space. This pushes up the price of other crops. And no offense, Google, but carbon offsets are the easy way out for a company that has already made over $3 billion this year.

So though it may seem that Google is taking the lead in the race to become the IT company with the best environmental record, looking at the fine print shows that Google is putting more effort into its claims and public relations machine than into its actions.

Source: http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=432916&no=381278&rel_no=1