Humans can mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Actions taken by individuals, communities, states, and countries all influence climate. Practices and policies followed in homes, schools, businesses, and governments can affect climate. Climate-related decisions made by one generation can provide opportunities as well as limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation. Steps toward reducing the impact of climate change may influence the present generation by providing other benefits such as improved public health infrastructure and sustainable built environments. Jump to: “Humans can mitigate climate change impacts”
Culture, Climate Science & Education
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Principle Nine: Humans can Take Action
The Cultural Values are Level-headedness, Creativity, Resourcefulness, and Reciprocity
Episode Nine: Buffalo
Episode 9: Buffalo
Transcript with Description of Visuals
Audio |
Visual |
---|---|
Audio (Alyssa and Rylee’s grandfather, Johnny Arlee, praying in Salish) |
Visual Johnny Arlee stands before a group of four or five bison, talking to them in a prayer-like way in Salish, his hands gesturing as he speaks. The bison, on a green grassy ridge with juniper trees in the background, watch him. Several move forward in his direction. |
Audio (soft instrumental music) |
Visual An aerial view of a green mountain, a river flowing at its base. Snow covered peaks rise up in the background. |
Audio Rylee: |
Visual Rylee, Alyssa, and Johnny stand together beneath a blue sky, the sun shining above them. |
Audio My Sx̣epeʔ says that q̓͏ʷiq̓͏ʷáy has always been at the center of our lives. |
Visual A loan cow bison standing in grass atop a mountain, the river far below in the distance, flows through a mountain valley. |
Audio Alyssa: |
Visual Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee with a few bison standing in the distance. Snow-covered peaks are in the distance. |
Audio So we journeyed across the mountains to the grasslands to go after buffalo as our people had done for thousands of years. |
Visual An aerial view of a lush green landscape with wooded mountains in the background. A few scattered bison graze as the camera moves away across a grass covered plain. |
Audio (Johnny Arlee singing the Buffalo Calling Song) |
Visual Johnny is singing to a group of bison. |
Audio Alyssa: |
Visual A historical black and white photo of cowboys riding horseback behind a herd of two dozen or so bison. |
Audio Johnny Arlee: |
Visual A lone bull bison stands in the grass, looking at the camera. |
Audio They were being slaughtered just for their hide. Their carcasses were left out in the prairies. |
Visual A lone bull, lying in the grass. |
Audio Their lives are just so parallel with ours. |
Visual Johnny standing with Alyssa and Rylee, looking at bison, with the snow covered peaks in the background. |
Audio Alyssa: |
Visual An aerial scene of a green, grassy plain with five bison grazing on it. The camera slowly flies over the plain. |
Audio The tens of millions of buffalo that had once blanketed the Plains, the animals that fed and clothed our people for thousands of years, were gone. |
Visual Camera is looking up at Johnny, the sun behind his head. He has a sad, thoughtful expression on his face. |
Audio Rylee: |
Visual Gray clouds moving quickly over a landscape of dry hills. |
Audio Alyssa: |
Visual A group of bison walking through the grass, the river in the background. Another group of perhaps two dozen bison feeding in a grassy field with wildflowers. |
Audio They became the nation's trust of free-roaming wild bison. |
Visual A group cow bison close up, a calf walking along side its mother. |
Audio The animals were taken to Canada and Yellowstone, and helped bring buffalo back to the landscape. |
Visual More bison, some with calves, feeding on a hillside above a large river flowing in the distance. |
Audio Johnny Arlee: |
Visual Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee. |
Audio that you was up here close to the buffalo, that we sang a song for him, to honor him, for his many years yet to come. |
Visual A cow bison licking her calf. Other bison graze nearby. |
Audio For our children, for our great-great-grandchildren, and generations yet to come. That they'll still have beauty around them. |
Visual Johnny talking to Alyssa and Rylee. |
Audio Alyssa: |
Visual A large bull bison rolls in the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust that is carried away by the wind. |
Audio During that time, they saw all kinds of changes, and they survived. |
Visual Camera pans out to show many bison scattered across the landscape. |
Audio Now the earth is changing again. |
Visual The tops of several teepees with the sun behind them, the teepee poles reaching high into the sky. Scene changes. |
Audio The climate is changing, but we are resilient Native people. |
Visual Alyssa stands near a teepee. She is dressed in a fine beaded dress and holds a fan of white feathers and a beaded purse. |
Audio We know how to take care of the Earth, how to give back, and we know how to adapt when the Earth does change. |
Visual She walks forward a confident, subtle smile on her face. |
Audio Rylee: |
Visual The camera is looking up at Johnny, the sun shining behind him. He is looking out across the landscape and has a broad smile on his face. |
Audio (soft instrumental music) |
Visual The following credits in white text over a black background: |
Principle 9
What You Need to Know About Principle 9: Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts
We can choose to minimize our impacts, build resilient communities, and protect the ecosystems that sustain us all. But it will require acknowledging the reality and the seriousness of human-caused climate change and addressing the important social, economic, and environmental issues climate change presents by implementing solutions based on the best available science. Read more…
What You Need to Know About Principle 9: Humans can take actions to reduce climate change and its impacts
We can choose to minimize our impacts, develop and employ technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere, build more resilient communities, and protect the ecosystems that sustain us all. But it will require acknowledging the reality and the seriousness of human-caused climate change and addressing the important social, economic, and environmental issues climate change presents by implementing solutions based on the best available science.
As the impacts of climate change become more prevalent, Americans face choices. Especially because of past emissions of long-lived heat-trapping gases, some additional climate change and related impacts are now unavoidable. This is due to the long-lived nature of many of these gases, as well as the amount of heat absorbed and retained by the oceans and other responses within the climate system. The amount of future climate change, however, will still largely be determined by choices society makes about emissions. Lower emissions of heat-trapping gases and particles mean less future warming and less-severe impacts; higher emissions mean more warming and more severe impacts. Efforts to limit emissions or increase carbon uptake fall into a category of response options known as “mitigation,” which refers to reducing the amount and speed of future climate change by reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The other major category of response options is known as “adaptation,” and refers to actions to prepare for and adjust to new conditions, thereby reducing harm or taking advantage of new opportunities. Mitigation and adaptation actions are linked in multiple ways, including that effective mitigation reduces the need for adaptation in the future. Both are essential parts of a comprehensive climate change response strategy.
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- Understanding climate science and integrating that knowledge into human society is key
Climate science can be used to reduce vulnerabilities or enhance the resilience of communities and ecosystems affected by climate change. But that knowledge must be integrated into human society. Jump to: “Understanding Climate Science and Integrating that Knowledge into Human Society is Key”
- Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
- Humans can also take measures to reduce their vulnerabilities
Humans can reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Actions such as moving to higher ground to avoid rising sea levels, planting new crops that will thrive under new climate conditions, or using new building technologies represent adaptation strategies. Adaptation often requires financial investment in new or enhanced research, technology, and infrastructure. Jump to: “Humans can take measures to reduce their vulnerabilities”
- Tribes can lead the way
To meet the challenge of climate change, we will need to adopt policies and practices—a way of life really—that ensures future generations can enjoy the beauty and plentitude of the earth that past generations have. Because tribes thrived in North America for thousands of years, we can learn from their practices, their cultures, their ways of life, as we navigate this new terrain in a way that guarantees a healthy and livable world for future generations. Jump to: “Tribes can lead the way”
Principle 9a
Understanding climate science and integrating that knowledge into human society is key
Climate information can be used to reduce the vulnerability of communities and ecosystems and to ensure they are more resilient. That’s why it important to improve our scientific understanding of the climate system and to get reliable information to policy makers.
Reducing human vulnerability to climate change depends not only on our ability to understand climate science, but also on our ability to integrate that knowledge into human society.
Decisions that involve Earth’s climate must be made with an understanding of the complex interconnections among the physical and biological parts of the environment and how the consequences of decisions will affect humans—socially, economically, and culturally.
How Will Native Americans in the Southwest Adapt to Serious Impacts of Climate Change?
A drying landscape and changing water regime are already affecting tribal lands
The ground cracks as a waterhole on Navajo lands in Arizona dries up. (Michael Weber/imageBroker/Corbis)
By Sarah Zielinski
SMITHSONIAN.COM
FEBRUARY 22, 2016
Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-will-native-americans-southwest-adapt-serious-impacts-climate-change-180958172/
Around the world, indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. That is true, too, in the United States. Coastal native villages in Alaska have already been inundated with water due to melting permafrost and erosion, and the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians of Louisiana recently announced plans to resettle on higher ground after losing 98 percent of their lands since 1950 to rising sea levels.
But leaving traditional lands is not an option for many Native Americans. In some ways, they have the same migration opportunities as anyone, but these peoples often have a profound relationship with the land and leaving it can mean losing traditional native culture, Derek Kauneckis, a political scientist at Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, said this past weekend at the 2016 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, D.C. He and three other experts presented their research in a symposium on “Climate, Water and the American Indian Farmer.”
Scientists are trying to identify how these tribes will be affected by climate change, and how they can not only adapt to that change but even thrive in the face of it, Kauneckis says.
For those tribes living in the American Southwest, that means dealing with warmer temperatures, longer droughts and decreasing water supplies, notes Maureen McCarthy, executive director of the Academy for the Environment at the University of Nevada, Reno.
This gif shows how much the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada diminished between March 27, 2010 and March 29, 2015. (NASA Earth Observatory)
The southwest region is shifting into a drier pattern as wet weather systems have become rarer, scientists recently reported in Geophysical Research Letters. And researchers reported last year that the western United States could face a megadrought by the end of the century. But an even bigger problem is that as temperatures rise, more precipitation is falling as rain instead of snow. Normally winter precipitation builds snowpack in the Rockies that feeds streams in warmer months when rain is scarce. When the snowpack is smaller than average, there can be less water available. New patterns in storms and extreme weather can result in catastrophic flooding—water that is not useful. And rising temperatures also means that more of that water is lost to evaporation, leaving even less for people to use.
Already these conditions are affecting Native American tribes in different ways, says Karletta Chief, a hydrologist at the University of Arizona and a member of the Navajo nation. A loss of soil moisture on Navajo lands in northeastern Arizona, for instance, caused sand dunes to inundate homes, she notes. And the Hualapai of Arizona had to sell much of their livestock during the most recent drought.
A Navajo woman feeds her herd in Monument Valley, Arizona. (Marc Dozier/Corbis)
While these problems face everyone in the Southwest, Native American communities have unique vulnerabilities. One of these is a complex system of land ownership, notes Loretta Singletary, an economist at the University of Nevada, Reno. On these “checkerboard lands”—where patches of land may be owned by tribes, individual tribal members or non-Native Americans—it can be difficult to know who has authority to act and make decisions about land and water.
In addition, many Native American lands have been divvied up into parcels that now, generations after they were established, have dozens of heirs that all have interest in the land. Decision-making becomes inefficient, Singletary says, and it can be impossible to manage the land’s resources sustainably.
But other laws dating to the 1800s, those dealing with water, may be an advantage for Native Americans in the Southwest. “Water means something totally different west of the Mississippi,” McCarthy says. “Water is a valuable commodity.”
Unlike in the eastern United States, water laws in the region are based on two basic principles: “First in line, first in right,” McCarthy quips, and “use it or lose it.” The older a claim is, the more water that user gets, she explains. And those who don’t make use of all of their rights can lose them.
A 1908 Supreme Court decision, known as the Winters Doctrine, established that Native Americans have some of the oldest water rights in the United States. However, most of the communities have yet to have those rights legally quantified, something that usually requires litigation, Singletary notes. Plus, water laws usually reserve water only for agriculture. Other uses, such as providing drinking water or keeping streams and lakes full enough for fish, aren’t considered. This is a “major challenge” for these communities, she says.
Managing water is incredibly important in these communities. “To us, water is sacred,” Chief says. But many Native Americans lack access to clean water, including some 40 percent of Navajo. Chief herself didn’t live in a place where water came out of a faucet until she went to college. People may travel up to 40 miles away to fill up huge drums that will last a few weeks. Others may have wells, but these are often drawing from shallow aquifers that are the first to dry up in a drought.
Native Americans, with their long history, can be a rich source of traditional knowledge on past environmental conditions and how to survive in difficult times, Chief notes. In California, for instance, the U.S. Forest Service is working with tribal members to reinstitute traditional burning practices for better fire and land management in the face of drought. Scientists are now starting to work with native communities to draw on that knowledge and develop adaptation strategies for the future, such as diversifying crops and the local economy, conserving water and providing better education for the younger generation.
The Native Waters on Arid Lands project, for instance, is bringing together researchers, native communities and government officials to address water issues for sustainable agriculture. Another project is looking more closely at issues faced by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe in Nevada, which depends on water from the Truckee River.
The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian is also collaborating with the Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Working Group, a national consortium of tribal colleges that is working to ensure that tribal knowledge of changing landscapes and climates is a part of education and research progams, notes Jose Barreiro, the museum's assistant director for research.
“Tribes have been resilient,” Chief says. “They have been able to survive different challenges with the environment through adaptation, and so there is opportunity for them to continue doing so.”
Unique Challenges Face Southwestern Tribes as they Prepare and Adapt to Climate Change
Principle 9b
Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
Humans may be able to mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of strategies is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Read more…
Humans can mitigate climate change impacts
Humans may be able to mitigate climate change or lessen its severity by reducing greenhouse gas concentrations through processes that move carbon out of the atmosphere or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A combination of strategies is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The most immediate strategy is conservation of oil, gas, and coal, which we rely on as fuels for most of our transportation, heating, cooling, agriculture, and electricity.
Short-term strategies involve switching from carbon-intensive to renewable energy sources, which also requires building new infrastructure for alternative energy sources. Long-term strategies involve innovative research and a fundamental change in the way humans use energy.
Actions taken by individuals, communities, states, and countries all influence climate. Practices and policies followed in homes, schools, businesses, and governments can affect climate. Climate-related decisions made by one generation can provide opportunities as well as limit the range of possibilities open to the next generation.
Steps toward reducing the impact of climate change may influence the present generation by providing other benefits such as improved public health infrastructure and sustainable built environments.
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- What You Can Do
- At Home
1. Change five lights
Replace your five most frequently used light fixtures or the lightbulbs in them with ENERGY STAR® qualified products and you will help the environment while saving $70 a year on energy bills. ENERGY STAR lighting provides bright, warm light; generates 75% less heat; uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting; and lasts from 10 to 50 times longer.
2. Look for ENERGY STAR
When buying new products for your home, look for EPA's ENERGY STAR label to help you make the most energy-efficient decision. You can find the ENERGY STAR label on more than 60 kinds of products, including appliances, lighting, heating and cooling equipment, electronics, and office equipment. Over their lifetime, products in your home that have earned the ENERGY STAR label can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 130,000 pounds and save you $11,000 on energy bills.
3. Heat and cool smartly
Heating and cooling accounts for almost half your energy bill--about $1,000 a year! There is a lot you can do to drive down this cost. Simple steps like changing air filters regularly, properly using a programmable thermostat, and having your heating and cooling equipment maintained annually by a licensed contractor can save energy and increase comfort, while helping to protect the environment. Depending on where you live, you can cut your annual energy bill by more than $200 by replacing your old heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR-qualified equipment.
4. Seal and insulate your home
Reduce air leaks and stop drafts by using caulk, weather stripping, and insulation to seal your home's envelope and add more insulation to your attic to block out heat and cold. A knowledgeable homeowner or skilled contractor can save up to 20% on heating and cooling costs and significantly enhance home comfort with comprehensive sealing and insulating measures.
5. Reduce, reuse, recycle
Reducing, reusing, and recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal. If there is a recycling program in your community, recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper, and other goods. Also, composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Visit EPA's Individual WAste Reduction Model (iWARM) to learn about the energy benefits of recycling, rather than landfilling, common waste products.
6. Use water efficiently
It takes lots of energy to pump, treat, and heat water, so saving water reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Saving water around the home is simple. Three percent of the nation's energy is used to pump and treat water so conserving water conserves energy that reduces greenhouse gas pollution. Reduce the amount of waste you generate and the water you consume whenever possible. Pursue simple water-saving actions such as not letting the water run while shaving or brushing teeth and save money while conserving water by using products with the WaterSense label. Did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away. Running your dishwasher only with a full load can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide and $40 per year. Be smart when irrigating your lawn or landscape. Only water when needed, and do it during the coolest part of the day; early morning is best. See EPA's WaterSense site for more water saving tips.
7. Be green in your yard
Composting your food and yard waste reduces the amount of garbage that you send to landfills and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. EPA's GreenScapes program provides tips on how to improve your lawn or garden while also helping the environment.
8. Purchase green power
Power your home by purchasing green power. Green power is environmentally friendly electricity that is generated from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun. There are two ways to use green power: You can buy green power, or you can modify your house to generate your own green power. Buying green power is easy. It offers a number of environmental and economic benefits over conventional electricity, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, and it helps increase clean energy supply. There are a number of steps you can take to create a greener home, including installing solar panels and researching incentives for renewable energy in your state.
9. Calculate your household's carbon footprint
Use EPA's Household Carbon Footprint Calculator to estimate your household greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy use, transportation, and waste disposal. This tool helps you understand where your emissions come from and identify ways to reduce them.
10. Spread the word
Tell family and friends that energy efficiency is good for their homes and good for the environment because it lowers greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Tell five people and together we can help our homes help us all. - At School
High School Students
- Track your school's climate impact: High school students can investigate the link between everyday actions at their high school, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. Using EPA's Climate Change Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) (WinZip of Excel spreadsheet, 3.4MB), students can learn about climate change, estimate their school's greenhouse gas emissions, and identify ways to mitigate their school's climate impact. Students gain detailed understandings of climate-change drivers, impacts, and science; produce an emission inventory and action plan; and can even submit the results of their emission inventory to their school district. They can also use Portfolio Manager to compare the energy use of your school with other schools nationwide, and earn the ENERGY STAR for your school if it qualifies as a top performer.
- Spread the word.
- Give a presentation to your family, school, or community group that explains how their actions can cause or reduce climate change. You can use EPA's “Create a New Climate for Action” presentation or develop your own. Get creative, and think of more ways to help others make a difference!
College Students
College students can play an important role in reducing greenhouse emissions at their colleges or universities by reducing their emissions from energy they use in dorm rooms. Students can also work with school administrators to develop an inventory, increase energy efficiency on campus, and reduce their school's greenhouse gas emissions by using green power.
Educators- Teach students about climate change and ecosystems
- Use the teacher resources on EPA's Students Guide to Climate Change. Use the Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands: A Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators to learn about the science of climate change and its potential effects on our nation's wildlife and their habitats. Download and share EPA's eight-page brochure, Frequently Asked Questions About Global Warming and Climate Change: Back to Basics (PDF) (8 pp, 1.6MB, About PDF), which provides illustrated answers to frequent questions.
- Engage middle school students in estimating emissions.
- Enhance critical-thinking skills by introducing the Global Warming Wheel Card Classroom Activity Kit to middle school students. A hand-held wheel card and other resources help students estimate household greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage students to think about ways they can reduce their personal, family, school, and community contributions to climate change. If you are an informal educator, simply use the Global Warming Wheel Card as a part of your field activities.
- Learn from other educators
- Investigate what other schools and organizations are doing to educate their audiences on climate change by clicking on Educators' Links, a database offering links to resources such as lesson plans, videos, books and toolkits.
Administrators- Save money and the environment
- The least efficient schools use three times more energy than the best energy performers. By partnering with the highly successful ENERGY STAR for K-12 School Districts and using Portfolio Manager to track and rate the energy performance of your portfolio of school buildings, school districts can serve as environmental leaders in their community, become energy efficient, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and save money! If you're considering a new building, EPA's voluntary School Siting Guidelines can provide tips for reducing climate and health impacts.
- Estimate your emissions and take the challenge
- School administrators can also work to reduce their school's greenhouse gas emissions by developing an inventory of their school's emissions or by taking the College & University Green Power Challenge.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Recycle school or classroom paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Reducing, reusing, and recycling at school and in the classroom helps conserve energy, and reduce pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal. You can reduce, reuse, and recycle at school or in the classroom by using two-sided printing and copying, buying supplies made with recycled content, and recycling used printer cartridges. For your old electronics, donate used equipment to other organizations, or investigate leasing programs to ensure that used equipment is reused and recycled.
- On the Road
1. Buy smart: Purchase a fuel-efficient, low-greenhouse gas vehicle
When shopping for a new or used vehicle (or even renting a vehicle), choose the cleanest, most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets your needs. With a wide range of clean, fuel-efficient vehicles available today, it’s easier than ever to go green—for the environment, and for your wallet. Check out EPA's Green Vehicle Guide or www.fueleconomy.gov to find the best, most comprehensive information on vehicle emissions and fuel economy.Gasoline Vehicle Label
You can also learn more about the fuel economy and environment label that you’ll see on all new vehicles. The label has been redesigned and updated for even easier comparison shopping. These new window stickers provide fuel economy and environmental ratings for all new vehicles, including advanced technology vehicles like electric cars and plug-in hybrids. And while at the showroom, you can scan the QR Code® on each vehicle’s label to be connected to additional information online, including personalized cost and energy-use estimates.
2. Drive smart
To improve your fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go easy on the brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce your time spent idling (no more than 30 seconds), and unload unnecessary items in your trunk to reduce weight. If you have a removable roof rack and you are not using it, take it off to improve your fuel economy. Use cruise control if you have it, and for vehicles with selectable four-wheel drive, consider operating in two-wheel drive mode when road conditions make it safe to do so.
For more information, take a look at these tips for driving more efficiently.
3. Remember maintenance...
Get regular tune-ups, follow the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule (which can be found in your owner’s manual), and use the recommended grade of motor oil. A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions, is more reliable, and is safer!
For more details, including potential fuel savings, check out these tips for keeping your car in shape.
4. ... and don’t forget your tires!
Check your tire pressure regularly. Under-inflation increases tire wear, reduces your fuel economy, and leads to higher greenhouse gas and other air pollutant emissions. If you don’t know the correct tire pressure for your vehicle, you can find it listed on the door to your vehicle’s glove compartment, or on the driver's-side door pillar.
And when it’s time for new tires, consider purchasing tires with “low rolling resistance,” an energy-saving feature.
5. Give your car a break
Use public transportation, carpool, or walk or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Leaving your car at home just two days a week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by an average of two tons per year.
Also consider telecommuting (working from home via phone or the Internet), which can reduce the stress of commuting, reduce harmful emissions, and save you money. And when driving, try combining your errands and activities into one trip.
- At Home
- What We Can Do as a Society
- Our Energy Supply
Switch over to renewable heat and power sources (hydropower, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy); where renewables are not possible switch from coal to gas; develop advanced renewable energy, including tidal and wave energy, concentrating solar, and solar photovoltaics. See what major corporations are committing to do.
- Our Means of Transportation
Require more fuel-efficient vehicles; hybrid vehicles; cleaner diesel vehicles; modal shifts from road transport to rail and public transport systems; non-motorised transport (cycling, walking); land-use and transport planning; higher efficiency aircraft; advanced electric and hybrid vehicles with more powerful and reliable batteries
- Our Buildings
Efficient lighting and daylighting; more efficient electrical appliances and heating and cooling devices; improved cook stoves, improved insulation; passive and active solar design for heating and cooling; alternative refrigeration fluids, recovery and recycling of fluorinated gases; integrated design of commercial buildings including technologies, such as intelligent meters that provide feedback and control; solar photovoltaics integrated in buildings
- Our Farms and Ranches
Improved crop and grazing land management to increase soil carbon storage; restoration of cultivated peaty soils and degraded lands; improved rice cultivation techniques and livestock and manure management to reduce CH4 emissions; improved nitrogen fertiliser application techniques to reduce N2O emissions; dedicated energy crops to replace fossil fuel use; improved energy efficiency; improvements of crop yields
- Our Forests
Establish forests where in areas where there is not now a forest (afforestation); reforestation; forest management; reduced deforestation; harvested wood product management; use of forestry products for bioenergy to replace fossil fuel use; improved remote sensing technologies for analysis of vegetation/soil carbon sequestration potential and mapping land-use change
- Our Waste
Landfill CH4 recovery; waste incineration with energy recovery; composting of organic waste; controlled wastewater treatment; recycling and waste minimisation; biocovers and biofilters to optimise CH4 oxidation
- Put a Price on Carbon
Many countries are lowering their carbon emissions very effectively by putting a price on carbon. This short video explains how that might be done either by taxing carbon or by instituting a cap and trade system.
- Our Energy Supply
Principle 9c
Humans can Take Measures to Reduce their Vulnerabilities
Humans can reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Actions such as moving to higher ground to avoid rising sea levels, planting new crops that will thrive under new climate conditions, or using new building technologies represent adaptation strategies. Adaptation often requires financial investment in new or enhanced research, technology, and infrastructure.
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Cutthroats Spawn at Pyramid Lake
By Jeff DeLong
Source: http://www.rgj.com/story/tech/environment/2014/06/03/cutthroats-spawn-pyramid-lake/9932583/
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DNA tests Tuesday confirmed newly hatched fish collected by biologists to be of the hefty Pilot Peak strain of Lahontan cutthroats first reintroduced into Pyramid Lake in 2006 and which anglers have lately been pulling from the water at up to 25 pounds in size.
"What we do have is documented reproduction of the cutthroat trout," said Lisa Heki, fisheries complex manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "This is important. It's a really significant milestone. It hasn't happened since 1938."
An official with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe first noticed evidence that cutthroats were digging spawning nests in the river just downstream of Marble Bluff Dam in April. Since then, at least 89 cutthroats — ranging in size from 17 to 25 pounds — have dug spawning nests in more than 180 locations along a roughly 2-mile stretch of the lower river downstream of the dam.
It's one more exciting development for a fish that last year gained national publicity over its successful recovery, with the spotlight put on Pyramid Lake as a premier destination to hook some really big trout.
"It's a very exciting success story for the tribe," said Terence James, vice chairman for the Pyramid Lake Paiutes. "We haven't seen this happen for a very long time."
Nevada's state fish, Lahontan cutthroats once thrived in all the major rivers and lakes on the eastern side of the Sierra, including Pyramid Lake, Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River. Cutthroats — famous for their size and taste — were fished extensively from Pyramid and Tahoe and shipped by rail to 1800s mining camps and to San Francisco. In 1925, Paiute Johnny Skimmerhorn set a world record by landing a 41-pound cutthroat.
Overfishing, destruction of spawning habitat and introduction of non-native game fish — particularly the Mackinaw — combined to decimate the cutthroat population at Lake Tahoe, with the fish disappearing from its waters by 1939. Pyramid's last spawn of cutthroat was recorded in 1938 and by 1944, they were gone from there as well. That event was largely due to the 1905 construction of the Truckee River's Derby Dam about 30 miles upstream, which sharply diminished flows to the lake and ruined spawning habitat.
Lahontan cutthroats were listed as an endangered species in 1970 and reclassified to threatened five years later. In 1974, the tribe established a new cutthroat fishery with fish raised at a hatchery at Sutcliffe, but those fish originated from outside the Truckee River Basin. While anglers have been landing them for many years, there have been no documented spawning runs or natural reproduction of that strain of cutthroat, Heki said.
The strain that spawned near Marble Bluff this spring was originally collected in the 1970s from a small stream in the Pilot Mountains on the Nevada-Utah border, with researchers at the time suspecting the fish were part of the original Pyramid Lake population. That was later confirmed through DNA testing.
The Fish and Wildlife Service began raising the Pilot Peak strain of cutthroat at a hatchery in Gardnerville in 1995, with the first of those fish released into Pyramid Lake eight years ago. This spring's spawn indicates the cutthroats are on the road to healthy self-reproduction, Heki said.
Spawning that occurred this year is not expected to be particularly successful, in part due to drought conditions that limited water flow and make survival of many newly hatched fish unlikely. But those same conditions make it surprising that the fish attempted to spawn at all, Heki said.
"They decided to take advantage of pretty diminished flow," Heki said. "This was completely unexpected, particularly during a drought year."
During a better water year, it's likely the cutthroats would spawn with more success, Heki said.
"It's important in terms of showing this population still retains its intent to reproduce naturally," Heki said. "It's a new era."
To learn about climate change impacts on tribal communities and ways they can reduce their vulnerabilities click to open the tabs
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause a shift or loss of traditional fish, plant and animal species
Earlier snowmelt will cause barriers to fish species migration/ movement; shift or loss of traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More rain, less snow will cause greater stress on cold-water species from warmer runoff; shift or loss of traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More extreme flood events will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; habitat disturbance/loss
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause reduced productivity/ greater stress on traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More erosion will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; stream channel changes; habitat disturbance/loss
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause reduced water quality for traditional aquatic species; increased sedimentation in streams; habitat and species disturbance/ loss
Cumulative Impacts on tribes include dietary changes; loss of local food resources; change in hunting/ gathering practices, and loss of culture & traditional medicinal plants and materials for jewelry, sculptures, ceremonial pieces, basketry, nets, and lodgings.
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Restore habitat to provide thermal refugia (i.e. riparian corridors); manage ecosystems to promote native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes; promote policies that ensure tribal rights for subsistence practices
Earlier Snowmelt: Restore habitat to remove barriers to fish migration; restore meadows restoration and implement forestry practices that help retain water in upper watersheds
More rain, less snow
Restore habitat to provide thermal refugia for cold water species; manage ecosystems to promote native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes; promote policies that ensure tribal rights for subsistence practices
More extreme flood events
Restore and enhance exisiting floodplain and wetland habitat; restore and manage watersheds to reduce erosion
Longer, more frequent droughts
Restore and manage habitat to promote native species; implement land use practices that promote water retention on-site; remove or minimize invasive species
More erosion
Restore and enhance riparian corridors; promote ranch land and forest management practices that reduce erosion
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Reduce forest density where needed via mechanical or hand thinning and/or prescribed burning; restore soil mantle; construct and maintain fuel breaks; restore meadows to help retain water; remove or minimize invasive species
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause a shift or loss of traditional fish, plant and animal species
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced streamflows in summer/fall
More rain, less snow will cause reduced streamflows in summer/fall
More extreme flood events will cause damage to sacred sites; temporary inaccessibility to sacred sites; exposure of sacred artifacts and remains
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause a reduction in streamflows; reduced productivity/ greater stress on traditional fish, plant, and animal species
More erosion will cause damage to sacred sites; loss of access to sacred sites; exposure of cultural resources
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to sacred sites; species disturbance/loss
Cumulative Impacts on tribes include loss of traditional materials for ceremonies; loss or exposure of sacred sites, artifacts, & remains; changes in traditional timing of spiritual practices
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Restore and manage ecosystems to promote traditional materials/ native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
Earlier Snowmelt: Restore forests and implement practices that help retain water in upper watersheds; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
More rain, less snow
Restore and manage ecosystems to promote traditional materials/ native species; promote traditional practices to restore traditional landscapes
More extreme flood events
Restore habitat to buffer sacred sites; build infrastructure (i.e., levees, sea walls) to protect sacred sites
Longer, more frequent droughts
Restore and manage habitat to promote native species; impement land use practices that promote water retention & reduce forest fuels; remove or minimize invasive species
More erosion
Restore habitat to buffer sacred sites; build infrastructure to protect sacred sites
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Manage fuel loads to reduce fire severity; create fire breaks to protect sacred sites; remove or minimize invasive species; restore habitat
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause changes in runoff timing reducing seasonal availability; higher water demands
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced reliability; less groundwater recharge; decrease in summer/ fall runoff
More rain, less snow will cause changes in runoff timing reducing seasonal availability; less groundwater recharge; reduced reliability
More extreme flood events will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment; service interruptions
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause reduced availability and reliability of surface water; less groundwater recharge; increased treatment; increased potential for overdrafting groundwater
More erosion will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to conveyance infrastructure; increased treatment; service interruptions; sedimentation
Cumulative Impacts include reductions in water availability; reduced quality or increased contamination of local surface and groundwater supplies; increase in water- related illnesses; potential conflicts over water rights; higher human water demands reduce water needed to support ecosystems/ species
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Increase storage capacity; improve conjuctive mgmt; conserve water; restore habitat
Earlier Snowmelt: Increase storage capacity; facilitate groundwater recharge basins; conserve water and energy; restore habitat in upper watersheds
More rain, less snow
Increase storage capacity; facilitate groundwater recharge basins; conserve water and energy; restore habitat in upper watersheds
More extreme flood events
Reinforce or relocate vulnerable conveyance infrastructure; improve treatment capacity
Longer, more frequent droughts
Increase storage capacity; improve conjuctive managment; conserve water and energy; promote reduction of forest fuels
More erosion
Protect vulnerable conveyance infrastructure with habitat buffers; improve treatment capacity
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Create fire breaks to protect infrastructure; improve treatment capacity; manage fuel and restore habitat to reduce risk
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause an increase in water-borne illnesses; taste and odor issues; decrease in dissolved oxygen increase in algal blooms; impacts to aquatic species
Earlier snowmelt will cause seasonal changes in quality due to decreased summer/fall runoff
More rain, less snow will cause seasonal changes in quality (such as reduced dissolved oxygen) due to decreased summer/fall runoff
More extreme flood events will cause wastewater spills; contaminated stormwater runoff; turbidity
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause increase in water-borne illnesses; taste and odor issues; higher contaminant loading; increase in algal blooms; decrease in dissolved oxygen; impacts to aquatic species
More erosion will cause damage to conveyance and wastewater infrastructure; increased turbidity
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause damage to infrastructure, increased turbidity/ sedimentation
Cumulative Impacts include reductions in water availability; reduced quality or increased contamination of local surface and groundwater supplies; increase in water- related illnesses; potential conflicts over water rights; higher human water demands reduce water needed to support ecosystems/ species
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Improve treatment capacity; promote use of wetlands in wastewater treatment
Earlier Snowmelt: Habitat restoration that help retain water in upper watershed to support summer/fall baseflows
More rain, less snow
Habitat restoration to support summer/fall baseflows; groundwater recharge/ conjunctive use
More extreme flood events
Improve wastewater systems to avoid spills; use green infrastructure to filter stormwater runoff
Longer, more frequent droughts
Improve treatment capacity; promote use of wetlands in wastewater treatment
More erosion
Protect vulnerable conveyance and wastewater infrastructure; improve treatment capacity
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Fire breaks to protect infrastructure; improve treatment capacity; fuel management and habitat restoration to reduce risk
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
Vulnerabilities and Impacts
Higher temperatures will cause increased mortality rates (especially for children and elderly); poor air quality; allergens increase; illnesses1 exacerbated; increased health care costs
Earlier snowmelt will cause reduced water supply reliability and quality
More rain, less snow will cause a change in prevalence & spread of disease; reduced water supply reliability and quality
More extreme flood events will cause a change in prevalence & spread of diseases; mortality; displacement
Longer, more frequent droughts will cause a change in prevalence & spread of diseases; mortality; reduced water supply reliability; increased malnutrition; increased health care costs
More erosion will cause displacement; poor water quality; mudslides
More frequent & intense wildfires will cause poor air and water quality; displacement; illnesses exacerbated, esp. respiratory illnesses; mortality; mudslides
Cumulative Impacts include an overall reduction in community health; increase in chronic and infectious diseases; increased heath care costs; impacts associated with displacement
Ways to Reduce Vulnerabilities
Higher Temps: Establish community cooling centers; develop renewable energy sources; provide education and outreach on heat-related illnesses
Earlier Snowmelt: Improve water supply reliablity and water quality (see stratgies above)
More rain, less snow
Provide education and outreach on disease prevention; improve water supply reliability and water quality
More extreme flood events
Provide education and outreach on disease prevention; establish emergency shelters; establish funding for recovery assistance
Longer, more frequent droughts
Education and outreach on disease prevention; establish emergency water supplies; establish funding for assistance programs
More erosion
Establish emergency shelters and water supplies; establish funding for recovery assistance
Longer wildfire season/ More frequent & intense wildfires
Establish emergency shelters and water supplies; establish funding for recovery assistance
Source: http://www.water.ca.gov/climatechange/docs/ClimateChange_TribalMatrix_Final_2014.pdf
For a good summary of climate change vulnerabilities for indigenous peoples in the U.S., visit the National Climate Assessment:
For a summary of how the Southwest is adapting to climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, click the button below:
Principle 9d
Tribes can Lead the Way
Much of the world's plant and animal communities has been in the hands of traditional peoples—societies of hunters and gatherers, herders, fishers, agriculturists—for a great many generations. In fact, pre-scientific, traditional systems of knowledge and management have been the main way that societies have managed the land and natural resources for many thousands of years. Those uses of the land and systems of management are sustainable. They do not compromise the interests of future generations because they enable societies to use their environment in a way that maintains the integrity of their local ecosystems.
In that sense, traditional systems of knowledge are not just curiosities, but are important for rediscovering principles and techniques for how our modern societies, in the face of a major climate crisis, can mitigate and adapt and in the end develop sustainable ways of living. Tribes throughout the Americas and around the world are working hard to deliver this message as the video below shows.
click the image to enlarge it
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Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is different from science. Using your knowledge of what science is, can you identify some differences between what TEK encompasses and what science encompasses? Can you identify some similarities? Traditional knowledge is complementary to western science, not a replacement for it. It enriches and expands our knowledge of the natural world and can teach us how we can live more sustainability in the world.
It's not just talk: The Evidence Speaks for Itself
Indigenous rights are key to preserving forests, climate change study finds
Leaving forests in communal hands cuts carbon emissions from deforestation, helps communities and offers long-term economic benefits: ‘Everyone wins’
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/02/indigenous-rights-forests-climate-change-study
Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday 2 November 2016 09.43 EDT
Ashaninka girls walk through a forest path as they return to their village in the Peruvian Amazon. Photograph: Rodrigo Abd/AP
The world’s indigenous communities need to be given a bigger role in climate stabilisation, according to a new study that shows at least a quarter of forest carbon is stored on communal land, particularly in Brazil.
The research by a group of academic institutions and environmental NGOs is the most comprehensive effort yet to quantify the contribution of traditional forest guardians to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Authors say the expansion of tribal land rights is the most cost-effective way to protect forests and sequester carbon – an issue that they hope will receive more prominence at the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Marrakech.
The paper by the Rights and Resources Initiative, Woods Hole Research Centre and World Resources Institute aims to encourage governments to recognise indigenous land rights and include tribal input in national action plans. Currently this is not the case for 167 of 188 nations in the Paris agreement, including Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are home to some of the world’s biggest forests.
It is also likely to feed into a growing debate in Brazil, which has won kudos for recognising more indigenous land than any other country in the past decade but is now under a new government that has yet to be tested in international climate talks.
Based on satellite surveys of 37 tropical countries, the study estimates community-claimed lands sequester at least 54,546m tonnes of carbon – roughly four times the world’s annual emissions.
Ownership of a 10th of that land is public, unrecognised or contested, which raises the risk that it could fall into the hands of developers, farmers, miners or others who want to clear the forest for short-term financial gain at the expense of long-term environmental costs.
Rainforest is cleared for agriculture in Amazonas state, Brazil. However, forest cover plays a vital role in rainfall levels and irrigation, which benefits farmers. Photograph: Brazil Photos/LightRocket via Getty Images
The authors argue there is a greater economic benefit from leaving the property in the hands of traditional residents and strengthening their ownership rights so they can protect the land.
Alain Frechette of Rights and Resources, one of the report’s authors, urged national governments and negotiators to make indigenous communities a more central part of climate policies.
“When communities have secure forest rights, not only are forests better protected, but communities fare better. It’s what economists call an optimal solution. Everyone wins,” he said. “By contrast, large-scale development initiatives produce quick wins, but the long-term environmental, economic and political costs are not taken into account. They are just pushed on to future generations.”
“As well as reducing 20-30% of carbon dioxide emissions, the forests provide benefits of clean water, pollination, biodiversity, flood control and tourist attractions that are said to be worth $523bn to $1.165tn in Brazil, $54-119 bn in Bolivia, and $123–277bn in Colombia over the next 20 years.
The data shows the most important region is Latin America, where 58% of emissions come from deforestation, more than double the global rate of 24%. Without protection, much more could yet be released. Five of the top 10 countries for forest carbon are in the continent. Brazil with 14,692 megatonnes has twice the amount of the next biggest country, Indonesia.
Having expanded indigenous land considerably since 2003, Brazil – and later Bolivia and Colombia – initially slowed deforestation. The World Research Institute estimates that tropical forests without such protection were two to three times more likely to be cleared.
But in recent years, forest destruction in Brazil has started to creep up again and many environmentalists are worried that the new centre-right government of Michel Temer could accelerate this trend.
Since the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff in September, the new government has cut the budget for the National Indian Agency (better known by its acronym Funai), and removed many of its key personnel.
“There are causes for concern,“ said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples. She urged Brazil not to backtrack. “As this report shows, if Brazil enhances its respect for indigenous peoples’ rights, they will be able to contribute more to the Paris agreement. It will be to their benefit. They can measure that in terms of the amount of tonnes of carbon that are being conserved.”
Paulo Moutinho, director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, called on the new government to declare the 71m hectares of currently undesignated public forest – equivalent to all the land cleared in the past 40 years – protected or indigenous land.
Although he acknowledged that this would be difficult to push past the strong agribusiness lobby in congress, he said farmers would eventually realise that strong forests were necessary not just for the global climate but for local rainfall patterns and irrigation.
“There is still time to do something impressive,” he said. “The world expects strong action from Brazil. It would be nice to consolidate and expand protected areas. Otherwise, it will be impossible to achieve what we have promised to the world.”
TEK Complements Western Science
Traditional Ecological Knoweldge
Traditional or Tribal Ecological Knowledge (TEK) refers to the way native people understand and pass on knowledge about the relationships between plant and animal species, ecosystems, and ecological processes. Because it encompasses knowledge that spans thousands of years and many, many generations, it has the potential to play a vital role in climate change adaptation. Not only does it hold relevance for tribes, it is also recognized as providing valuable contributions to larger climate change discussions at regional, national, and international levels. The table below identifies some of the most important differences between Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Scientific Knowledge.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Encompasses oral history, place names, and a spiritual relationship with the creator and creation
Encompasses ethical considerations, for example, relations between humans and the natural world that are based on the principle of reciprocity and obligations toward community and other beings
Holistic approach concerned with complete ecological systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection of it into parts
Acquisition of knowledge over multiple generations and over periods as long as thousands of years
Long-term wisdom (not just information but information paired with wisdom)
Prediction in local areas
Weak in predictive principles in distant areas (cannot necessarily predict how other landscapes will respond)
Models based on cycles, accepting variability
Explanations based on examples, anecdotes, parables, spiritual beliefs, and experience spanning generations
Western Scientific Knowledge
May encompass elements from written history but generally considers only data collected through experiments
Strives for objectivity so generally does not consider moral or ethical obligations
Compartmentalized approach (tends to dissect and look at individual parts of an ecological system)
Rapid acquisition (often data is collected in timespans of years or a few decades)
Short-term prediction
Predictability in natural principles (depending on the type of data collected)
Weak in integrated, local areas of knowledge (because of tendency to specialize or compartmentalize)
Linear modeling as first approximation
Explanations based on hypothesis, theories, laws, and scientific process and judgment
Traditional ecological knowledge involves the accumulation of highly localized, experiential, placed-based wisdom over a long period, most often passed down orally from generation to generation.
The two knowledge systems — TEK and western science — share some similarities. Both are founded on observations and critical evaluation of the landscape, processes, or plant or animal of interest. Both rely on observation in natural settings and on pattern recognition. Both allow for revisions in the way they understand the environment or a given phenomena when initial facts and assumptions are disproven or improved upon through additional experience or testing. Both relying on repetition to validate an assumed fact.
Traditional ecological knowledge can contribute qualitative, historical field data that Western science may lack, while Western science typically provides more quantitative data.
As it pertains to climate change, contributions from both knowledge systems are critical. Traditional ecological knowledge can identify on-the-ground climate-related changes occurring at a local level and contribute traditional management practices that have been time-tested.
Qualitative data deals with descriptions. The data can be observed but not measured, and includes descriptions of behavior, processes, timing, cycles, colors, textures, smells, tastes, appearance — information that characterizes but does not measure.
Quantitative data deals with numbers. The data are measurements — length, height, area, volume, weight, speed, time, temperature, humidity, sound levels, cost, members, ages, etc. Information that is a measure of something is quantitative.
Principle 9e
Local Relevance
Navajo Nation Climate Change Adapation Action Plan
This Climate Adaptation Action Plan presents the first comprehensive assessment of strategies and options to address an array of climate change issues. In presenting this Action Plan, the discussion keys in on the following:
- Review of the impacts and process of assessment leading to this report;
- The particular significance of these issues to a tribal way of life going back generations;
- The process and methodologies for evaluating strategy options to address impacts;
- Major priority issues and key recommendations; and
- Critical considerations for implementation of recommendations.
Principle 9f
Misconceptions about this Principle
The Misconception
CO2 limits that will mitigate climate change will harm the economy.
The misconception or myth goes something like this: “Passing laws to limit greenhouse gas emissions hurt the economy and damage the Gross Domestic Product “GDP” growth of developing countries [...] This in turn will increase poverty.”
The Science
Economic studies show that, while environmental regulations (like reducing CO2 emissions) may cost companies money, their net benefits often greatly exceed their costs.
In recent years, the U.S. set a 17% target [for emissions reduction]; the country is on track to meet that. At the same time, the U.S. has doubled our production of clean energy — wind-energy production is up three-fold, solar is up twenty-fold (as of 2015). All this while we have come out of the worst recession in the nation’s history. So, we've been able to grow the economy from the depths of a deep recession while emitting less carbon than we did previously. Read more…
The Science
Economic studies show that, while environmental regulations (like reducing CO2 emissions) may cost companies money, their net benefits often greatly exceed their costs.
In recent years, the U.S. set a 17% target [for emissions reduction]; the country is on track to meet that. At the same time, the U.S. has doubled our production of clean energy — wind-energy production is up three-fold, solar is up twenty-fold (as of 2015). All this while we have come out of the worst recession in the nation’s history. So, we've been able to grow the economy from the depths of a deep recession while emitting less carbon than we did previously.
Also, auto and truck regulations are on track to double the fuel efficiency of our vehicles by 2025 (saving consumers $1.7 trillion). America has been able to do all this while creating millions of jobs and dropping the unemployment rate. And none of the disasters that some predicted from those regulatory steps have taken place.
Four major factors account for this: increased use of low-carbon energy sources instead of fossil energy sources; increased efficiency in energy generation; increased energy efficiency on the consumer side; and a move away from energy-intensive manufacturing towards less energy-intensive service sector work.
The biggest driver has been the reduced cost of renewable energy, particularly solar power.
Renewables are the only source of energy that is continually getting cheaper. In many parts of the world, solar and wind power have become cost competitive with coal. Renewables are, increasingly, offering the best return for your money, in terms of new investments.
It is true that environmental regulations impose compliance costs on businesses, and can raise prices, and that can hurt economic growth. But it is also true that those regulations create jobs by requiring pollution clean-up and prevention efforts. And perhaps even more importantly, they save the economy billions by avoiding pollution’s harmful health effects and long-term economic costs. Particles from smoke stacks, for example, are implicated in respiratory diseases, heart attacks, infections and a host of other ailments, all of which require billions in health-care costs per year to treat. Preventing those particles from going into the air means healthier and more productive citizens, who can go spend that money on something other than making themselves well again. Another example is carbon emissions, which will impose costs on the economy in the form of future disruption to food supplies, destruction from extreme weather, and other upheavals if they’re not curbed.
The Office of Management and Budget* (OMB) study looked at a range of regulations across the economy, and found the benefits of regulations outweighed their costs across the board. The blue and red bars below represent the range of estimates for what the costs (in red) and benefits (in blue) of regulations were. In very few instances was even the very upper limit of cost estimates equal to the very lower limit of benefit estimates.
Source: Office of Management and Budget
But no where was the effect greater than with EPA regulations themselves. Over the last decade, they imposed as much as $45 billion in costs on the economy, but they drove as much as $640 billion in benefits (benefits are 14 times greater than costs).
The OMB study found that a decade’s worth of major federal rules had produced annual benefits to the U.S. economy of between $193 billion and $800 billion and impose costs of just $57 billion to $84 billion. Benefits far outweigh costs.
Rules from the EPA added significantly to both sides of the ledger. “It should be clear that the rules with the highest benefits and the highest costs, by far, come from the Environmental Protection Agency and in particular its Office of Air and Radiation,” the OMB study said.
So fighting climate change will provide a boost for the economy while helping to protect the planet from the catastrophic changes unabated global warming would bring.
* The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The main function of OMB is to produce the President's Budget. OMB also measures the quality of agency programs, policies, and procedures and checks to see if they comply with the president's policies.
Adapted from: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/03/1955891/new-omb-study-the-economic-benefits-of-epa-regulations-massively-outweigh-the-costs/
How much will greenhouse gas emission controls impact growth rates?
Our best guess is that keeping greenhouse gas concentrations within "safe" limits (430-480 parts per million of carbon equivalent) would mean global average annual consumption growth rates of between 1.54% and 2.94% rather than between 1.6% and 3%.
Check your Knowledge of this Principle
To pass this knowledge check you will need to have read the main paragraphs for each topic of the principle.