League of Women voters full page ad to Obama in Hawaii shows frightening denial of climate science and ignorance of decades of US climate action. US CO2 has dropped to 1992 levels and is heading lower per scientists
The League of Women Voters relied on incorrect or outdated science in creating their full page climate terror ad aimed at Obama in Hawaii. Obama himself knows that US CO2 has dropped to 1992 levels and is heading lower. The LWV should inform themselves about current science before demanding changes they erroneously and grandiosely assume will benefit all Americans.
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1/4/13, “League of Women Voters Releases Ad in Hawaii Urging President Obama to Act to Protect Hawaiian ‘aina Against Climate Change,” Hawaii Reporter
“As President Obama wraps up his family vacation on his native Hawaii, the League of Women Voters sent him back to Washington DC with a reminder that his legacy on climate change will have a great impact on the island state’s future. In a full-page print ad, which will run on Saturday in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the group is urging President Obama to set tough standards for new and existing power plants under the Clean Air Act.
- An 8/16/12 AP report about the 20 year drop specifically cited CO2:
- From Pres. Obama’s speech:
8/28/12, at Iowa State: “We’re on track to emit fewer greenhouse gases this year than we have in nearly 20 years. You can keep those trends going.”
- 8/28/12, The NY Times noted Obama’s recognition of US emissions drop.
- 8/16/12, “AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low,” AP, Kevin Begos
“In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.
Many of the world’s leading climate scientists didn’t see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.
Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for “cautious optimism” about potential ways to deal with climate change….
In a little-noticed technical report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that energy related U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. Energy emissions make up about 98 percent of the total.
“While there has been some press coverage of these facts (see here and here) I continue to find that most people are surprised to learn about this progress….
(above chart from NRDC article)
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6/4/12, “Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006,” Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage
“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.…
- Here is the biggest shocker of all: the average American’s CO2 emissions are down to levels not seen since 1964 ––
over half a century ago. …Coal is the number two source of CO2 for Americans. Today the average American burns an amount similar to what they did in 1955, and even less than they did in the 1940s. …It is exactly America’s historical role of biggest and dirtiest that makes their sharp decline in CO2 pollution so noteworthy
- and potentially game changing at the global level.”...
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12/7/12, “Surprise Side Effect Of Shale Gas Boom: A Plunge In U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” Forbes, guest article by Julie M. Carey, an energy economist with Navigant Economics
- Devoting 13 federal agencies to ‘climate’ matters is hardly lagging in “action.”
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Above, August, 2007: “China’s industrial growth depends on coal, plentiful but polluting, from mines like this one in Shenmu, Shaanxi Province, behind a village store,” NY Times
“EPA Administrator Jackson confirmed an EPA analysis showing that unilateral U.S. action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would have no effect on climate….“I believe the central parts of the [EPA] chart are that U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels,” Administrator Jackson said.”…
- “In a forthcoming issue of the journal Global and Planetary Change,
- “The lack of monitoring seems a gross oversight given the international concern over small island stability and pressing concerns of island communities to manage island landscapes,” the report stated.”
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7/24/12, “The Sultan’s Cars,” wheel to wheel blog.
- “National Call to Action on Global Warming,” League of Women Voters
Above, “China’s cement factories, like this one in Ningxia Province, use 45 percent more power than the world average, and its steel makers use about 20 percent more,” NY Times
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