Europe attempted to reassert its international leadership in the fight against global warming today, offering to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 95% by 2050 and by 30% by 2020 if a climate change pact is sealed in Copenhagen in six weeks’ time.

“This should be seen as a clear message to the world,” said Andreas Carlgren, the Swedish environment minister who chaired the Luxembourg meeting. “We expect to reach an agreement in Copenhagen,” he added, after environment ministers from 27 countries finalised a common EU negotiating position. But his optimism contrasted with the increasing doubts around the world enough time remains to deliver a binding agreement in Copenhagen. The EU also still has to settle disputes over the EU’s carbon trading scheme and how the developing world will be paid to cope with the impacts of global warming.

The EU negotiating position offers to slash greenhouse gas emissions by between 80-95% by 2050 and to deepen cuts from 20 to 30% by 2020 if other world powers sign up for similar action. The ministers said they also reached accord on tough action on deforestation and agreed that aviation would have to cut its emissions by 10% by 2020 compared with 2005 levels and shipping by 20%.

However, reluctance from the big players – the US, China, and India – to unveil targets or specific figures for a climate change pact, the EU was divided over tactics ahead of the UN conference in Copenhagen in December.

Germany and Italy were reluctant to name a figure publicly so early, believing this could weaken the European bargaining position.

“I’ve heard arguments about tactics,” said Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for the environment. “But by telling the decision now, we encourage other countries to come with their proposals. We don’t gain anything by not reaching a decision.”

Britain, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands supported this view, believing that Europe had more to gain from playing pioneer and seizing the leadership in the run-up to Copenhagen.

“Environment ministers are determined that the EU maintains its leadership position on climate change in order to promote an ambitious deal at Copenhagen,” said Ed Miliband, the UK energy and climate change secretary.

Carlgren said Warsaw’s proposal for changes to the ETS, which Poland thinks unfairly penalises its coal-dependent economy, was “unacceptable” to many members. Dimas added that without a breakthrough, there could be a “collapse” of the ETS, which the Europeans see as the vanguard of a potential worldwide carbon cap-and-trade system.

Leaders will meet at a summit in Brussels next week to hammer out the finances package for the developing countries, expected to total €15bn a year from the EU.

Despite today’s agreement, environmental campaigners denounced the EU accord as inadequate.

“The level of ambition demonstrated by environment ministers will not deliver a fair and just global climate agreement in Copenhagen,” said Sonja Meister, climate campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth. “Europe must go much further than this and live up to its historical responsibilities by committing to cut emissions by 40% domestically by 2020.”

This is the largest step taken by the federal government ever to fight climate change. The finding has created a 60 day comment period for the public before any proposed regulations can be announced.  It may take a long time, perhaps years, for the EPA to produce rules that would control our 7.4 billion pounds of co2 that is emitted yearly in the US.

There is some concern that the EPA regulating co2 would mean that every product that has to adhere to a different set of rules is going to skyrocket price wise. No matter how long it takes or how much prices go up, this is a great win for everyone on the planet. It is something that should have happened a long time ago. Global warming is extremely dangerous to our planet and greenhouse gasses cause global warming, so now the EPA can regulate greenhouse gasses under the Clean Air Act.

People are not entirely to blame. We are being blind sided by special interest groups and big oil companies who want to ensure that their bank accounts continue to bulge at the seams.  Each of these companies is run by a few people who are getting rich.  Basically a few thousand people on the planet, destroying the planet so they can continue to reap the rewards.  It is also easier to believe that nothing is happening and that everything will be fine.  Making doubt easy to attain.  Nobody wants to think that we are all going to suffer, that millions will die, oceans will rise, and our kids will be left vulnerable. What needs to happen before people take notice?  By the time average people around the world start to believe, it will be too late. China is still pumping out coal fired power plants at a rate of one every ten days.  Do you think China will want to stop, go backwards, and give up their new found wealth?  Do you think that the government in China has told the millions of peasants that they have working in their factories, the dangers of global warming? How long would it take to convince someone that has no education  and just  moved into their first apartment, bought their first car, or had electricity for the first time? A country that now has to loan the United States of America trillions of dollars for us to get back on our feet. That’s got to feel pretty good. They are not going to want to give up their success because it took them to long to get there. 

When corruption goes all the way to the top, how does a normal person stop it?    Most people follow blindly in fear of losing their jobs and not being able to  feed their family.  Do you think that the Chinese workers know what is going on with the environment?  Do you think that they would sacrifice themselves at a rate of 500,000 deaths per year through the effects of pollution that stems from the very plants that they work in?  They have 3 choices; work and take their chances on dying in a factory, be killed or starve to death. The only way to slow them down is to not buy Chinese products. Greed around the world will not let that happen because to many people are making money from cheap garbage products. Millions of people around the world in a comfort zone knowing where there next buck is coming from will not want to rock that boat.  Unfortunate but there it is. Probably half of them even if they knew they were killing the planet would not stop. Because not everyone cares what happens or whether we hand a dying planet off to our kids, and that will be our downfall. Unless governments are forced to enforce certain standards it will never work. The penalties have to be great and enforced around the world. How long would that take if we started right now?  Could global warming be reversed?

Ben & Jerry’s

Greenpeace researchers in Germany first developed the precursor to the climate-friendly freezer in the early 1990s when it became clear that HFCs, which the chemical industry had marketed as a safe alternative to ozone depleting clouroflourocarbons (CFCs), were accelerating global warming.

“This climate-safe freezer will keep pints of Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia as cold as ever, but it’s also going to help cool our planet,” said John Passacantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. “With hurricanes intensifying, tropical disease spreading, sea levels rising, and polar bears going extinct, we need to make sure that what cools our ice cream, drinks, and homes isn’t also melting the ice caps.”

Ben & Jerry’s cleaner, greener, freezer is eco-friendly and climate safe.  They are now a Green Earth Friend!

There is evidence that these changes are brought about by human consumption, especially when it comes to burning fossil fuels. Many experts say that carbon dioxide is the culprit and that if we do not do something soon, rising sea levels will cause many disasters around the globe. On top of that it will be hotter. We live in Florida and think its hot enough as it is already. A couple more degrees and you could cook an egg on our driveway. All that protects us is a thin layer of gasses which seem pretty fragile.

People who disagree with the Greenhouse Effect are usually making money from something which is contributing more than its fair share of greenhouse gasses. No one who is trying to help the environment says that burning fossil fuels is not bad for the environment. We need to find alternative energies now. Governments have to start listening now. We want a clean and healthy environment for all our children of this Earth. We all need to be a Green Earth Friend.

 We were amazed when we found this video of Jack Nicholson in 1978, promoting the first car to run on solar power and hydrogen gas. You can not help but wonder why this technology was not implemented back then and why no one has heard about it until recently. The video is a clip from the 1978 ABC news archives. The hydrogen was stored in high pressure tanks and placed in the trunk. The hydrogen gas was created by solar power. Pretty slick technology for the time. Jack actually gets down and inhales the water vapors coming out of the tailpipe. He also explains the benefits of driving a zero emissions car.

Why the United States did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
The major distinction between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to stabilize GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.
Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.”
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. 183 Parties of the Convention have ratified its Protocol to date. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh in 2001, and are called the “Marrakesh Accords.”
The Kyoto Mechanisms.
Under the Treaty, countries must meet their targets primarily through national measures. However, the Kyoto Protocol offers them an additional means of meeting their targets by way of three market-based mechanisms.
The Kyoto mechanisms are:
• Emissions trading – known as “the carbon market”
• Clean development mechanism (CDM)
• Joint implementation (JI).
The mechanisms help stimulate green investment and help Parties meet their emission targets in a cost-effective way.
Monitoring Emission Targets.
Under the Protocol, countries’actual emissions have to be monitored and precise records have to be kept of the trades carried out.
Registry systems track and record transactions by Parties under the mechanisms. The UN Climate Change Secretariat, based in Bonn, Germany, keeps an international transaction log to verify that transactions are consistent with the rules of the Protocol.
Reporting is done by Parties by way of submitting annual emission inventories and national reports under the Protocol at regular intervals.
A compliance system ensures that Parties are meeting their commitments and helps them to meet their commitments if they have problems doing so.
Adaptation. The Kyoto Protocol, like the Convention, is also designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change. It facilitates the development and deployment of techniques that can help increase resilience to the impacts of climate change.
The Adaptation Fund was established to finance adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is financed mainly with a share of proceeds from CDM project activities.
The Road Ahead.
The Kyoto Protocol is generally seen as an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilize GHG emissions, and provides the essential architecture for any future international agreement on climate change.
By the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, a new international framework needs to have been negotiated and ratified that can deliver the stringent emission reductions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change {ipcc} has clearly indicated are needed.
Kyoto Protocol Targets.The targets cover emissions of the six main greenhouse gases, namely:
• Carbon dioxide (CO2);
• Methane (CH4);
• Nitrous oxide (N2O);
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs);
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs); and
• Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)
The maximum amount of emissions (measured as the equivalent in carbon dioxide) that a Party may emit over the commitment period in order to comply with its emissions target is known as a Party’s assigned amount. The individual targets for Annex I Parties are listed in the Kyoto Protocol’s Annex B.
Countries included in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol and their emissions targets
Country Target (1990** – 2008/2012)
EU-15*, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia,Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, Romania,Slovakia,Slovenia, Switzerland -8%      
US*** -7%
Canada, Hungary, Japan, Poland -6%
Croatia -5%
New Zealand, Russian Federation, Ukraine 0
Norway +1%
Australia +8%
Iceland +10%
* The 15 States who were EU members in 1990 will redistribute their targets among themselves, taking advantage of a scheme under the Protocol known as a “bubble”, whereby countries have different individual targets, but which combined make an overall target for that group of countries. The EU has already reached agreement on how its targets will be redistributed.
** Some EITs have a baseline other than 1990.
*** The US has indicated its intention not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
Note: Although they are listed in the Convention’s Annex I, Belarus and Turkey are not included in the Protocol’s Annex B as they were not Parties to the Convention when the Protocol was adopted.
Upon entry into force, Kazakhstan, which has declared that it wishes to be bound by the commitments of Annex I Parties under the Convention, will become an Annex I Party under the Protocol. As it had not made this declaration when the Protocol was adopted, Kazakhstan does not have an emissions target listed for it in Annex B.

The Protocol mirrors the Convention in recognizing the specific needs and concerns of developing countries, especially the most vulnerable among them. Annex I Parties must thus provide information on how they are striving to meet their emissions targets while minimizing adverse impacts on developing countries.
An Adaptation Fund was established to finance concrete adaptation projects and programs in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. The Fund is to be financed with a share of proceeds from clean development mechanism (CDM) project activities and receive funds from other sources.