GLOBAL WARMING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The potential effects of global warming are both serious and complex. Cities are especially vulnerable to these risks. Even a nominal rise in temperatures may be magnified in cities where asphalt and concrete absorb solar radiation, producing heat and increasing air conditioning loads.This could harm human health, decrease local air quality, facilitate the formation of ground level ozone, and create stresses on urban forests. Urban water supply may also be at risk as the potential for more frequent droughts increase. National and state level policies have failed to adequately address these pressing concerns. In 1995, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognized that human action is altering the natural balance of CO2 and other gases causing changes in the global climate. The IPCC is sponsored by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization and includes over 2500 scientists from more than 60 countries.
The early effects of global warming are already evident across the United States and worldwide. The past nine years have all been among the 25 warmest for the contiguous United States, a streak unprecedented in the historical record. If emissions are left unchecked, temperatures will continue to rise, and the effects of global warming will become more severe. This report examines trends in U.S. global warming pollution nationally and by state and concludes that the failure to limit emissions nationwide has allowed global warming pollution to grow out of control.In February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body charged with assessing the scientific record on global warming, found that the evidence of global warming is “unequivocal” and concluded, with more than 90 percent certainty, that human activities are responsible for most of the observed rise in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century. If current trends in emissions continue, the IPCC projects that temperatures will increase anywhere from an additional 1.1° to 6.4°C (2° to 11.5°F). The consequences of this increase in global temperatures will vary from place to place but will include sea level rise, heat waves, drought, increasingly intense tropical storms, loss of plant and animal species, decreased crop yields, decreased water availability, and the spread of infectious diseases.The United States is the largest worldwide contributor to global warming, releasing almost a quarter of the world’s carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant. Power plants, cars, and light trucks are the largest U.S. sources of carbon dioxide.Existing technology could substantially reduce global warming pollution by making power plants and factories more efficient, making cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shifting the country to clean, renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power. Unfortunately, the U.S. government so far has rejected mandatory limits on global warming pollution, allowing carbon dioxide emissions to rise unabated. Using the most recent state fossil fuel consumption data from the Department of Energy, this report examines trends in carbon dioxide emissions nationally and by state for the 15 years spanning 1990 to 2004. Our major findings include the following: Carbon dioxide pollution is on the rise
