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October 22, 2009
350 This Weekend
What's magic about 350? That's the upper limit (in parts per million) of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere to keep climate change to a manageable level.
The problem is, we're already at 390ppm and increasing.
A series of rallies around the world are scheduled for October 24th, including one here in Portland protesting the Columbia River Crossing (Pioneer Courthouse Square at 12:30 on Saturday).
You can get a preview of the issue on KBOO (FM 90.7) at 8am on Thursday on the Voices from the Edge program.
Posted by Chris Smith at 12:33 AM
Comments
October 22, 2009 10:54 AM
John E. Says:
October 24, 2009 4:20 PM
Ron Swaren Says:
There are a lot of choices that can cause more carbon based fuels to be used. There is no simple Liberal-Conservative divide and the choice of personal transportation modes is only a small slice of the equation. A person living in a mild climate with lots of sunshine may have a much smaller carbon footprint than someone living in a big drafty house in the Northeast. A person who works outside may have a much smaller carbon footprint than someone working in an office in Chicago.
Ships, it has been found, are probably the biggest single contributor to all types of pollution. It probably isn't so much the weight of the product being imported, although cars and other machinery have some of the heaviest weight by volume. But it is also the fact that stout metal shipping containers are used on board heavily constructed metal ships. This total weight then requires huge bunker oil fired engines to push all of the water out of the way---which becomes an even greater energy demand in rough, stormy seas.
I think some ways to reduce ship pollution might be 1. Switch to plastic containers built on wood frames, 2. Use catamaran design ships 3. Use kite sails whenever possible 4. Since ship engines are so huge maybe they could have their own pollution reducing equipment.
The UN released a report this year about shipping's contribution to CO2 levels. I haven't found the actual report but here is an article referring to it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution
