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Autumn has arrived, and with it comes climatologists' assessment of the summer of 2008. The verdict? According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was the ninth warmest summer recorded since 1880. El Nino and its often dramatic shifts in rainfall persisted. Arctic sea ice fell to its second lowest levels ever. And an active hurricane season challenged coastal regions.
Those are the highlights, and each is a predicted outcome of human-induced climate change. Of course, one season's records do not a crisis make. But when this summer's statistics are added to those from prior years, the trend toward a hotter planet is clear and the need for positive change is as pressing as ever.
If you're thinking that this change has been too slow in coming, don't be discouraged! There are a host of hopeful new solutions on the horizon. Here's a look at how to create a cooler world:
•The Environmental Defense Fund has launched the Carbon Offset List, an online guide to offset initiatives that deliver. The EDF program lists only those offsets that meet a tough set of criteria for effectiveness, verifiability, and other crucial measures. Use the guide to make sure that your offset dollars go to those projects that will make a genuine lasting difference.
•Want to make another big move to help the climate? Paint your roof white! According to surprising new research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, using reflective paint or shingles on the 1,000 sq. ft. roof of the average American home sends enough heat back into space to offset 10 metric tons of CO2 emissions. If all roofs and pavement in the world's 100 biggest urban areas were switched to reflective surfaces, we'd offset an extraordinary 44 billion metric tons of CO2-more than the entire world emits in a year.
•Another strategy: An article in Scientific American suggests using solar power to supply some 70% of our electricity needs and 35% of our total energy by 2050. The proposal calls for filling an area of southwestern desert with current solar technologies and building new feeder lines to transport their energy to regional power grids. According to its authors, converting just 2.5% of the solar radiation that strikes the suitable lands each year would meet the nation's current total annual energy consumption. The hitch is a $420 billion price tag. But considering we've spent more on waging war and bailing out Wall Street, that's a bargain we should figure out how to afford.
•Solar may be a hot trend, but hypermiling is even hotter. This new movement teaches drivers how to dramatically increase their gas mileage no matter what kind of car they drive. Techniques like smart braking, potential parking, and rabbit timing let hypermilers achieve some truly astonishing mileage rates. Imagine getting 75 mpg in your 1999 Saturn or 51 mpg in your 1998 Lincoln-Mercury Mystique. You may not want to take hypermiling that far (and we question the safety of its more extreme methods) but even basic hypermiling will raise your efficiency and lower your gas bill.
•The country's first carbon auction is taking place among power plants in 10 northeastern states as part of the region's new cap-and-trade carbon emissions reduction plan. Power plants will have to cap their emissions at a series of gradually declining levels. Whenever a plant prevents more emissions than its current cap allows, it can auction off the difference. The result is a financial incentive to prevent emissions and a market being watched closely around the world as a first-of-its kind model.
•New research from the Carbon Disclosure Project finds that 75% of the 1,550 large global companies surveyed are aware of the financial risks created by their emissions and want governments to provide regulations that level the playing field when it comes to reining in those risks. According to the study, 81% of U.S. companies think climate change is a risk but only a third have adopted emissions reduction targets pending the adoption of emissions rules.
LED light bulbs are almost here! They use 85% less energy than incandescents and have a lifespan 30 times greater. They're better than CFLs, too, using half the energy and lasting five times longer. High costs have prevented an LED revolution. But with prices falling 25% a year, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts that LEDs will represent 70% of all lighting sold by 2028 and save consumers $280 billion in energy costs over the same period! We can use the savings to fund developing solar power!
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