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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, US, September 20,
2006 (Refocus Weekly)
The United States should adopt clean energy
policies to reduce global warming emissions, including strong
policies to increase the use of renewable energy.
“Global warming is happening and Pennsylvanians are feeling the
heat,” says Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment, which released the
report, ‘Feeling the Heat: Global Warming & Rising Temperatures in
the United States’ which found that the average temperature in many
cities across Pennsylvania has been higher since 2000 than in the
previous three decades. “Temperatures will continue to rise unless
we quickly and significantly reduce global warming pollution from
power plants, cars, and SUVs.”
This year’s unprecedented heat wave is part of a broader trend of
rising temperatures across the country, with temperatures in the
continental U.S. in the first seven months of this year at the
highest of any year on record. In Pennsylvania, the average
temperature was 2°F above the average for the last century, making
it the ninth warmest January-July on record for the state.
PennEnvironment analyzed temperature data from 255 major weather
stations in 50 states for the period from 2000 to 2005, and the
first six months of 2006. The recent data were compared to
temperatures for the three decades from 1971 to 2000, and the report
found that national temperatures were above normal at 91% of the
sites.
“Two or three degrees may not seem like much but, just like in
people, a small, relatively rapid temperature rise can have serious
consequences,” explains Willcox. “The good news is that we already
have the tools to substantially reduce global warming pollution; we
just have to put these solutions to work.”
To avoid the worst consequences of global warming, the U.S. must
stabilize global warming emissions within the next decade, begin
reducing them soon after, and cut emissions by 80% by the middle of
this century, the report recommends. It should adopt a series of
public policies designed to quickly and significantly reduce
emissions of global warming pollutants from power plants, cars and
trucks, and manufacturing facilities.
“The United States should establish mandatory, science-based limits
on CO2 and other global warming pollutants that reduce emissions
from today’s levels within 10 years, by 15-20% by 2020, and by 80%
by 2050,” the report concludes. The national government should adopt
complementary clean energy policies to reduce global warming
emissions and, to achieve these reductions, the U.S. “should adopt
strong policies to improve the efficiency with which we use fossil
fuels and increase our use of clean, renewable energy.”
Federal action to reduce global warming pollution should promote
innovative approaches at the state level, and not impede individual
states or groups of states from pursuing policies that go above and
beyond the commitments made by the federal government, it continues.
In August, PennEnvironment released a report showing how the U.S.
could cut global warming pollution by 20% by 2020 by switching to
renewable energies and other actions.
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