Climate Change Chapter 8

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Climate Change Chapter 8

• What It Means to Us, Our Children, and Our
  Grandchildren
• Lauren-Kelly Devine and Angela Hobart
• March 4, 2008

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Chapter 1- Introduction

• Climate dynamics
• Greenhouse effect
• Public beliefs of consensus

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Chapter 2- Likely Impacts

• Difference between climate and weather
• Components of climate system
• Overview of scientific discoveries
• Human contributions to the greenhouse effect and
  climate change
• The earth has become warmer and may grow warmer
  without major changes
• Abrupt change and uncertainties

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Chapter 3- Global and Local

• Challenges for all levels of government and the
  private sector
• Effects on human health and each level of the
  economy
• Effects will be different for different regions

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Chapter 4- Consensus

• Historical perspective, IPCC
• Mistaken view of the public about consensus on
  climate change
• Some individuals, organizations, and governments
  already acting

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Chapter 5- World Response

• International Efforts
• Framework Convention on Climate Change
• Kyoto Protocol
• Beyond Kyoto

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Discussion Question

• Will American companies only really go green when
  it is economically profitable for them to do so?

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Chapter 6- Communication

• Challenges of communicating climate change
  science to the public
• Difficulty of getting public attention for
  climate science when competing with other
  (environmental) topics
• Nature of news creates confusion

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Chapter 7- Human Security

• Localized effects of climate change
• Some will be hurt, some will benefit
• Extremely vulnerable regions and populations
• Effects will eventually be felt worldwide

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Chapter 8- A Review of Some of the More
Interesting Points

• Warming of waters and potential effect for
  hurricanes
• Seasonal changes
• UK position
• Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBO), cost of damages
• Actions in U.S. state- California
• Cap-and-trade

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Discussion Question

• Based on what you know about the impacts of
  climate change over the next 50 years and the
  actions being taken by individual nations (and
  what the effects of climate change may be on that
  particular nation), in which country would you
  like your grandchildren to be raised, and why?

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• http//youtube.com/watch?vvgvnqv1-_D4featureRec
  entlyWatchedpage1ttfb
• 20 years ago, the General Assembly had
  acknowledged that climate change was real and
  that the world could no longer live at the
  expense of future generations. UN Assembly
  President SRGJAN KERIM

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Plan B 2.0

• Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization
  In Trouble
• By Lester R. Brown

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• The Old Economy

• Fossil-fuel based
• Centered around the use of automobiles and the
  automobile industry
• throw-away economy
• Not viable for the environmental situation of
  todays world

• The NEW ECONOMY

• Renewable sources of energy
• Diverse transportation system relying
  increasingly more on railways, buses, and
  bicycles
• Recycling of goods
• sustainability

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How to Move Toward the New Economy

• Use new technology and scientific research to
  catalyze policy change
• Use economic policy to reach social and
  environmental goals
• Build off of the balance of the market (iegt
  supply and demand)
• Calculate the indirect costs of a good or service
  and then incorporate them into MARKET prices,
  counteracting them with decreased income taxes

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TAX SHIFTING

• Decrease in income taxes, raising levies on
  environmental destructive activities
• Method endorsed by economists
• Examples
• What other examples can you think of relating to
  climate change or other environmental issues?

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Environmental Tax Reform Europe

• Western European countries working toward
  environmental goals
• Increased number of jobs in the renewable energy
  sector
• Most common activities taxed
• Carbon emissions
• Garbage
• Excessive number of cars in urban areas

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Case Study Sweden

• 2001 10-year plan to convert 3.9 billion in
  income taxes to taxes on destructive activities
• electricity
• Road transport
• Vehicle taxes
• Fuel taxes

• As of 2005 running ahead of 10 year plan
• world leader in environmental tax reform
• HOW WOULD THE AMERICAN PEOPLE RESPOND TO THIS
  KIND OF TAX REFORM?

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TRAFFIC IN LONDON

• Entrance taxes recently increased to the
  American dollar equivalent of 14 per day
• Resulting revenue invested in improvements for
  the bus network
• Goals reduce congestion, air pollution, and
  carbon pollution

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The United States?

• State governments tobacco companies
• State governments sued tobacco industry for
  Medicare costs of smoking-related illnesses
• Industry responded with a package reimbursement
  of more than 251 billion to cover state costs
• Increase in cigarette prices
• Cost to society of smoking 7.78/ pack

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Social costs of gasoline use?

• Indirect costs
• oil industry tax breaks
• oil supply protection costs
• oil industry subsidies
• health care costs of treating auto
  exhausted-related respiratory illnesses

• Real Price of Gasoline calculation 9/gallon
• Why would the U.S. implement these retroactive
  taxes on cigarettes and not support environmental
  tax reform?

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Are tax shifts effective?

• Yes! Sweden, British Columbia, United States
• Double benefit
• Environmental reform
• Labor market
• Reduces tax on income labor
• Labor becomes less costly
• More jobs available!

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SHIFTING SUBSIDIES

• 700 billion/year in environmentally destructive
  activities
• Many European countries Japan no longer support
  subsidies for coal
• US taxpayers 33 billion/ last 10 years for
  fossil fuel industries
• Instead, subsidize wind, solar, and geothermal
  technology, rail construction

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ECOLABELING

• For appliances, forest products, fish
• Forest Stewardship Council
• Provides information on forest management,
  sustainability
• stamp of approval
• Approved wood preferred by the three largest wood
  buyers in the US

• US utilities- many companies required by their
  state commissions to offer a green option

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RECYCLING

• Modern industry could function on ¼ of the virgin
  raw materials used now
• Key recycling steel , 29 in US from virgin ore
• Electric arc steel minimills eventually
  replacing iron mines, saves money on dumping fees
• Ban on nonrefillables
• Cluster factories
• Increase quality of tap water
• Tax on gold

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NEW INDUSTRIES? NEW JOBS

• Aquaculture largest growing subsector of world
  food economy
• Wind farms hydrogen production
• Based on an increase of wind turbine use
• Large, unused capacity during the night
• free electricity
• Hydrogen generators
• Could potentially replace the coal mine, oil
  well, and gas field

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THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVOLUTION

• Agricultural revolution restructuring the food
  economy , replaced hunting and gathering
• Industrial revolution shift from wood to fossil
  fuels? expansion of economic activity
• Environmental revolution?
• For developing countries
• For developed countries

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PARTNER ACTIVITY how to present the facts of
climate change to a nonbeliever