Solutions to the Climate Crisis — 1
Welcome to my first post on Medium! I’m still learning the platform and enjoying conversing in comments, but it’s time to dive in and post.
My main theme will be seeking solutions to the climate crisis, especially in transportation because it is the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector in the United States, and fully half the problem in California where I live. This will be a high-level view, based on current authoritative sources. We all take in a lot of continuing bad news, but I want to focus on what we can do.
My opening image documents the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) statement:
A.1 It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. — IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers (emphasis added)
Fires and extreme weather are already climate change impacts. Oil drilling impacts our beaches and communities.
A.3 Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones, and, in particular, their attribution to human influence, has strengthened since AR5. — IPCC, 2021: Summary for Policymakers (emphasis added)
In this IPCC chart the light blue line shows the pathway of GHG emission reductions necessary to achieve no more than 1.5 degrees of global warming. We must make big CO2 reductions before 2030 (the light blue arrow).
But from the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inventory report (draft published in 2022, data through 2020, and I’ve projected Transportation for 2021 from U.S. EIA fuels data), although U.S. GHG emissions have improved for the electric power sector — due to less coal and more renewable wind and solar — other than the Covid dip they have otherwise been pretty flat. Not good! [chart and paragraph updated 3/12/22]
This California Air Resources Board (CARB) chart shows our state’s electricity is cleaner than the U.S. average but we drive a lot. Transportation is 40% of the total (72% from passenger vehicles and 20% from heavy-duty vehicles) and fully half the total if you include oil production and refining.
By law (SB 32), California must reduce emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. CARB will be updating its Scoping Plan this year to propose how to achieve that. This 2020 Executive Order helps:
It shall be a goal of the State that 100 percent of in-state sales of new passenger cars and trucks will be zero-emission by 2035. It shall be a further goal of the State that 100 percent of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles in the State be zero-emission by 2045 for all operations where feasible and by 2035 for drayage trucks. It shall be further a goal of the State to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible. — Executive Order N-79–10
That’s a lot of charts as a foundation. But the big question is, how can we accomplish those reductions? Thanks for reading, and I’ll address those in upcoming posts:
