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We’ve already told you that the amount of carbon pollution we release every year (almost 35 gigatons) would be enough to fill the balloons in two billion Thanksgiving Day parades. And it’s only increasing. In 2009, we could take a little bit of comfort in the 1.3% decline in carbon pollution, almost entirely due to the global financial crisis. The fact that we experienced such a large jump in 2010 without a full economic recovery should give even the most hardened climate “inactivist” pause.
Moreover, we are causing the climate crisis without even creating revolutionary economic breakthroughs, or a strong foundation for a long-term, sustainable economy. More than half of the pollution growth came directly from regular old coal-fired power plants – not magic job-creating machines, rocket ships to explore other planets, or a teleportation system.
So that was the bad news. How about some good news?
It’s not cause to celebrate in the streets, but as pollution increases, more Americans are acknowledging the reality of climate change. A new report from Pew shows that 63% of Americans believe there is solid evidence global warming is happening — up from 57% in 2009 and 59% in 2010. Within that group, those who understand that humans are causing global warming increased, while those who think it’s natural warming stayed flat. Since last year, there was a jump from 32% to 38% of those who view global warming as a “very serious” problem. These numbers are still below the all-time high in 2007, when 77% of Americans believed global warming was happening. But they do suggest we’re moving back in the right direction.
So while the problem of carbon pollution isn’t going away, more Americans are realizing exactly that. But not nearly enough of them. And if our carbon pollution rises another 5.9% year after year, that simply isn’t sustainable for our civilization. Let’s get to work making sure the only scary numbers we see come from Transylvanian Muppets.
cybiont
December 8th
The work with influencing and demanding our leaders to reduce CO2 emissions needs to continue. Additionally – maybe it is about time we start preparing for a life in a new climate… I wonder… a planet that is warmer by 6 degrees celsius – what would that mean?
Hank Helmen
December 17th
Climate change deniers claim that taking measures to curb carbon pollution will damage the economy and be too costly. We should explore the very real cost of not doing anything to curb carbon pollution. Take for example the cost of cleaning up after hurrican Katrina. In addition the huge costs of more and more frequent droughts, floods, forest fires, and storms. We should ask insurance companies what the true cost of human caused climate change is.