In mid-April 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases associated with climate change are pollutants.
Dan Greenbaum: What they’ve done here is drawn this connection between CO2 and climate change and the changes to temperature and the effects that will have on conventional air pollutants and therefore on public health.
Dan Greenbaum is president of the Health Effects Institute, an independent research organization heavily funded by the EPA to study the health effects of air pollution.
Dan Greenbaum: Should this finding be solidified, then one could expect they would probably propose some very specific standards for greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. They could also potentially do it for other sources as well.
Greenbaum said this so-called ‘endangerment finding’ by the EPA will help lead to the first regulation of greenhouse gases in the United States.
Dan Greenbaum: Carbon dioxide is a by-product of all combustion, and there isn’t just a simple control to capture it and make it go away. So it will take much, much more effort to improve fuel efficiency and take other kinds of actions in order to really reduce carbon dioxide substantially.
Greenbaum said the EPA’s action has put pressure on the US Congress to create specific legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Our thanks to Dan Greenbaum.
Dan Greenbaum is president of the Health Effects Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Greenbaum,
You speak of improving fuel efficiency and taking other kinds of actions to reduce CO2 levels. In terms of effectiveness, where does the number of people on the planet fit in? I rarely, if ever hear any discussion about the need to limit population growth. To me, it is the 800 pound gorilla that few people or organizations wish to deal with.
If the world was a doctor’s patient, it would seem to me that the global warming and pollution are serious symptoms, but the increase in world population is the disease. It is good to treat symptoms, but eventually the cause of the symptoms must be addressed.
I apologize for transitioning from a question to my soapbox. I welcome your thoughts.
David Bross
Mr. Greenbaum: You didn’t say anything about the “Krebs Cycle”, so incase you didn’t study Biology, everyliving thing expells CO2 as a result of living.That means you & me as well as every Earth Sky personnel including EPA personnel & Al gore are in EPA violation for expelling CO2. Now if a person is dead, they don’t expell CO2 in their breath!
Mr. Garcia, your sardonic tone is well-appreciated, but being glib will solve nothing. It is true that all animals expel CO2 in their excretions. The EPA is only looking for superfluous CO2 that can easily be eliminated by changing human behavior. If it means changing how we see the world, not issuing drivers’ licenses to anyone with a pulse, highly encouraging people to use restraint in so far as to not have more than two children (tax breaks for those with none or one would do wonders), and literally taking cars off the road, then so be it.
What I would like to see researched is the effect on plant life that all this extra CO2 in the atmosphere is having. Many forms of plant life, I hypothesize, are thriving and producing more pollen. This extra pollen is causing more people to have worse and worse allergies every year. Will this eventually turn into a critical problem, where people will die? I think yes.
It’s about time we got serious about “gas guzzlers”. GM’s latest monstrosity, the Tahoe “Hybrid” is like convincing a heroine addict that mixing Methodone with his Heroine will cure his addiction. Since when is 22 mpg “saving the planet”.
We all need a dose of reality, 22 mpg is not good gas mileage even if it’s from a hybrid. GM’s days of fooling eveybody have to be over.
Antoni
It’s about time we got serious about “gas guzzlers”. GM’s latest monstrosity, the Tahoe “Hybrid” is like convincing a heroine addict that mixing Methodone with his Heroine will cure his addiction. Since when is 22 mpg “saving the planet”.
We all need a dose of reality, 22 mpg is not good gas mileage even if it’s from a hybrid. GM’s days of fooling eveybody have to be over.
Antoni
Don’t worry. Now that GM is owned by our federal government, its end is near. It will start making completely useless automobiles that no one will buy and will spend billions of taxpayer dollars doing so. It will follow all collectivist ideas down the toilet. But, this time it will take your and my money with it.
By the way, 22 miles per gallon is very good for a vehicle that weighs 400 pounds. It takes a certain amount of energy to move a given weight a given speed. Simple physics. If we move to the electric car, they will burn even more fuel.
It is the business of the owner of the car to decide what they are willing to pay for fuel. We are in no danger from carbon dioxide emissions. We are in danger from politicians meddling in affairs of the market.
CO2 is not a pollutant at ppresent levels. It will not be a pollutant if it were t oreach 2000 ppm. It is not causing global warming, the earth is cooling. Plants use CO2 to produce carbohydrates that we all need to survive. If we could increase CO2 to 1000ppm, we could DOUBLE plant growth. That would make a lot of food! Since the earth is cooling, all this is about politics and power. Period. The science is non-existant for the global warming folks, that is why the term has been changed to “climate change”. It is bogus. The climate is and always has been in a state of flux. Mostly controlled by the sun. the sun, which is quiet right now. If it doesn’t pick up, we could well be looking at a repeat of the Little Ice Age. Which killed a lot of people. And will again. Get a grip and pay no attention to anyone that works for the US govenment, the UN or any other group with a vested interest in increasing and consolidating power. It is about power, folks, not climate.
Climategate ;
E-Mails leaked ,exposing fraud on Global warming.
http://www.infowars.net/articles/november2009/231109Warming.htm
Stop a lot of pollution by synchronizing traffic lights! Here in the SF Bay Area we suffer from Make One, Wait For One [MOWFO] traffic signals. This leads to 1]higher levels of pollution and greenhouse gases, 2]more dangerous roads as drivers speed to make the next light or drive on pedestrian and bicycle heavy side streets, and 3]frustration at the unnecessary loss of precious time. Before the previous administration there were federal programs to do this! I DO blame the EPA and NHTSA for dropping the ball on this. So much more effective than insulation and weatherstripping! People will drive 25mph or 30mph on designated HOV streets happily if the lights synchronize and get them home or to work faster. Slam dunk!!!