The article in the url below offers a radical perspective that I found refreshing in its willingness to propose counter-intuitive ideas:
“Winning the war on global warming requires slaughtering some of environmentalism's sacred cows.”
The article covers ten “green heresies” that it argues need to be re-thought in order to maximize progress on the main goal—minimizing carbon-dioxide emissions:
“Live in Cities
A/C Is OK
Organics Are Not the Answer
Farm the Forests
China Is the Solution
Accept Genetic Engineering
Carbon Trading Doesn't Work
Embrace Nuclear Power
Used Cars — Not Hybrids
Prepare for the Worst”
Links to all ten “heresies” are on the article’s web page and contain interesting ideas and provocative suggestions. Typical is the claim that “A/C Is OK,” which is based on the argument that it is more environmentally-friendly to live in Arizona (where AC is a must) than in New England (where it is less of a necessity, but heating becomes much more important):
“When it's 0 degrees outside, you've got to raise the indoor thermometer to 70 degrees. In 110-degree weather, you need to change the temperature by only 40 degrees to achieve the same comfort level. … In the Northeast, a typical house heated by fuel oil emits 13,000 pounds of CO2 annually. Cooling a similar dwelling in Phoenix produces only 900 pounds of CO2 a year.”
Another interesting argument is that buying a second-hand car is more environmentally-friendly than buying a new hybrid:
“Pound for pound, making a Prius contributes more carbon to the atmosphere than making a Hummer, largely due to the environmental cost of the 30 pounds of nickel in the hybrid's battery. … If a new Prius were placed head-to-head with a used car, would the Prius win? Don't bet on it. Making a Prius consumes 113 million BTUs. … A single gallon of gas contains about 113,000 Btus, so Toyota's green wonder guzzles the equivalent of 1,000 gallons before it clocks its first mile. A used car, on the other hand, starts with a significant advantage: The first owner has already paid off its carbon debt. Buy a decade-old Toyota Tercel, which gets a respectable 35 mpg, and the Prius will have to drive 100,000 miles to catch up.”
The frightening thing, however, is that it might not make any difference what we do:
“The Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, calculates that even if the US, Europe, and Japan turned off every power plant and mothballed every car today, atmospheric CO2 would still climb from the current 380 parts per million to a perilous 450 ppm by 2070, thanks to contributions from China and India. (Do nothing and we'll get there by 2040.)”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
WIRED MAGAZINE: 16.06.2008
Science: Planet Earth
Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green
In the age of climate change, what matters most is cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. That means rethinking everything you ever learned about being green.
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-06/ff_heresies_intro
