Power plants and oil refineries account for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — more than two billion tons per year. This global warming pollution is causing dangerous heat waves, rising sea levels, stronger storms and floods, and devastating droughts, thereby threatening the public health and welfare of current and future generations.
The impacts of global warming on human and natural systems are now being observed nearly everywhere. In 2007, the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted serious risks and damages to livelihoods, human infrastructure, societies, species, and ecosystems unless future warming is reduced. So far this decade, emissions, warming, and impacts, such as ice melt and sea level rise, have all been at the upper end of IPCC projections.
Evidence includes disappearing glaciers, increasingly severe heat waves and droughts in some areas, intensifying hurricanes and floods in others, and more wildfires. If left unchecked, the effects could be catastrophic: millions of people displaced as rising sea levels flood coastal areas; many regions devastated by reduced crop yields and shortages of drinking water; human health threatened by the spread of malaria and other vector-borne diseases; many plant and animal species at risk of extinction.
Eleanor Revelle, LWVUS CCTF, June 23, 2009
The climate of the Midwestern states is already changing. Annual average temperatures have risen in recent decades, with the largest increases in the winter months. Extreme heat events are occurring more frequently, and heavy downpours are becoming much more common as well. The duration of lake ice, including on the Great Lakes, is decreasing, and the growing season is starting earlier and lasting longer.
By Eleanor Revelle (LWVIL and LWVUS Climate Change Task Force Member)
Water is an increasingly scarce resource. Many parts of the United States already face serious water shortages and even drought. Population growth and the changing climate are putting additional stresses on water supplies. Even in areas where water seems to be abundant, careful management of this precious resource is essential if we are to ensure a reliable supply for future generations.
By Eleanor Revelle (LWVIL and LWVUS Climate Change Task Force Member)
The voluntary carbon offset market is booming. Dozens of companies are ready to help eco-conscious consumers compensate for their personal carbon emissions by contributing to projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere.
By Eleanor Revelle (LWVIL and LWVUS Climate Change Task Force Member)
With the demise of cap-and-trade legislation during the 2010 session of Congress, the climate action spotlight has shifted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act (CAA). But efforts are now underway to block EPA regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
By Eleanor Revelle (LWVIL and LWVUS Climate Change Task Force Member)
Facing the growing evidence that burning fossil fuels is contributing significantly to global climate change, policymakers are evaluating strategies for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. They have two general approaches to consider.