Many countries around the world have already signed the Kyoto Protocol Agreement, but the US has rejected the agreement. Why? Is it because the agreement isn’t effective?
In this episode of The Massachusetts School of Law’s Educational Forum, Professor Diane Sullivan interviews Dr. Paul R. Epstein of the Harvard Medical School, Nancy Cole of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Kurt Olson Professor of Law at MSL about Global Warming & the Kyoto Protocol Agreement.
Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani answers a question from Bruce Clendenning on July 10, 2007, in Manchester, New Hampshire about how fuel efficiency standards, renewable energy, and emissions caps will be used to fight global warming.
California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and President George W. Bush are butting heads over who has the right to regulate vehicle emissions that contribute to global warming.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Stephen L. Johnson announced Wednesday, December 19th that because President Bush had signed an energy bill raising average fuel economy that there was no need or justification for separate state regulation.
In an interview with Time Magazine, Governor Schwarzenegger says:
“Give me a national policy that says we’re going to take this seriously and we’re going to fight global warming. But right now, there has been none. So how can you say you cannot regulate, you cannot have your own standards, [that] we have to set a national standard, when there is no national standard?”
The U.S. population is growing faster then ever despite the lack of resources & the impact it has on the planet. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population will hit 303.15 million on January 1, 2008. This is up 0.9 percent from last year. They also estimate that in 2008, the country will add one person every 13 seconds.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about why it’s important that the United States act on global warming and why the states have had to do so in the absence of leadership by the federal government on NBC’s Meet The Press.
Congressmen Dennis Kucinich strongly supports the idea that human pollution is a significant cause of global warming.
“Do you have to be a scientist to know there is something quite unusual going on with our environment? Do you have to be a member of congress to understand? All over the world, people have seen the effects of global climate change…I don’t need a scientist to tell me this is happening, because I see it myself. The problem comes when you get scientists who tell you something that’s different from what you’re seeing with your own eyes. Why do we even get trapped into that kind of thinking?”
At the CNN / YouTube Debate, Congressmen Dennis Kucinich answers global warming question.
“We need to move away from reliance on oil and coal and toward reliance on wind and solar. That’s the basis of my WGA, Works Green Administration, where we take an entirely new approach to organize the entire country around sustainability, around conservation.”
Congressmen Dennis Kucinich also strongly supports international treaties to cut greenhouse gas emissions like the Kyoto Protocol.
“The Kyoto Climate Change Treaty is just the first step. We need to go beyond Kyoto. We need to reach out to the world and reduce our carbon emissions, and we need to have environmental protection to secure our food supplies.”
Take Back America 2007 Conference on June 20, 2007
Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) – Raises average fleet fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
Renewable fuels – Expands the renewable fuels standard to 9 billion gallons in 2008 and increases it to 36 billion gallons by 2022.
Biofuels - Requires the US to produce 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol.
Light bulbs – Increases national efficiency standards of light bulbs by 30 percent and phases out most types of incandescent bulbs by 2012-14.
Green buildings – Mandates that federal buildings renovated or newly constructed in 2010 reduce their fossil-fuel-generated consumption by 55 percent in 2010 and 100 percent by 2030.
