Cars are choking Delhi’s roads. And this is just the beginning of their car boom. “Cars are not only choking Delhi’s roads but also people of the city.The good work done by introducing CNG buses and three-wheelers is being offset by the rise in number of cars. . . . “
NYTimes, September 2, 2009– “India released an analysis on Wednesday projecting that its emissions of greenhouse gases in 2031 will be triple today’s, although well below the global average on a per-capita basis. The report is part of India’s attempt to stake out a bargaining stance before the Copenhagen climate summit in December. There, India and China are likely to face pressure to accept limits on their greenhouse emissions… ‘Our per-capita emissions will never exceed the per capita emissions of developed countries’ said Jairam Ramesh, India’s minister of environment and forests, in releasing the report… The studies projected India’s population at 1.5 billion in 2031. [The population density of India recently passed that of Japan.] India is asking for financial assistance and technology transfers from developed countries to help it curtail emissions.”
India is not being as cooperative as it could be on promising to reduce emissions, but then, neither is the U.S. All countries meeting in Copenhagen in December are now positioning themselves for a bargain that would be best for their country, not the world. Climate change has taken a back seat to the economic concerns of these countries. What they fail to realize is that the longer climate change progresses, the more expensive surviving it will be.
No countries as yet have promised to reduce emissions enough to budge the U.S. Senate to dedicate itself to strong climate legislation. In fact, the senate bill is now delayed indefinitely, in part because of John Kerry’s upcoming knee surgery. No, I’m not kidding.
“The report [on emissions] is part of India’s attempt to stake out a bargaining stance before the Copenhagen climate summit in December. There, India and China are likely to face pressure to accept limits on their greenhouse emissions. Many American lawmakers have demanded that concrete steps be taken by the large developing countries before they approve domestic climate legislation or a new treaty. India has argued that developing countries should not be asked to take steps to curtail their growth when they contribute less pollution per person than developed countries.
“Our per-capita emissions will never exceed the per capita emissions of developed countries” said Jairam Ramesh, India’s minister of environment and forests, in releasing the report.
The five studies estimated that India’s annual per-capita emissions in 2030-31 will be the equivalent of 2.77 tonnes to 5.00 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The studies projected India’s population at 1.5 billion in 2031. [The population density of India recently passed that of Japan.] India is asking for financial assistance and technology transfers from developed countries to help it curtail emissions.
Meanwhile, CO2 and methane are still building up. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in April that the concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane, the two most important greenhouse gases released through human activities, rose in 2008. We can’t survive a huge methane release or build-up in the atmosphere, and I mean that literally. Methane and could literally wipe us out. Add to that other greenhouse gases that are being released such as chloroflourocarbons. Methane is a 100X more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. The only way to stop more methane from being released where it’s being held (permafrost, tundra, trapped in frozen areas) is to stop climate change as soon as possible. Even that won’t work, because there is enough GHG in the “pipeline” already to get us to 350ppm, even 450 ppm, and beyond, unless something is done. The oceans were good carbon sinks until recently. So were the rainforests and the forests of Indonesia, but now much of those forests are cut down and the ocean is unable to absorb more CO2. Basically, because it’s already quite full of it.
“Methane levels rose in 2008 for the second consecutive year after a 10-year plateau. As the agency put it, “Atmospheric concentrations increased by 4.4 molecules for every billion molecules of air, bringing the total global concentration up to 1788 parts per billion.” Methane persists only a few years in the air, but is about 25 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.
In a printed statement, Pieter Tans of the agency’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., said the only way to stop growth in the atmospheric concentration of the gases is to reduce emissions enough that natural processes can keep pace. “Think of the atmosphere and oceans taking in greenhouse gases as a bathtub filling with more water than the drain can empty, and the drain is very slow,” Dr. Tans said.”
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