Creating & implementing Creating & implementing solutions to climate changesolutions to climate change

•communities•campuses•corporations and small businesses

April 3, 2007

“High court tells EPA to rethink policy on emissions”

“One of the greatest rulings on Earth”

INSERT 400,00 year chart

Source: C.D. Keeling and T.P. Whorf

Mauna Loa Monthly Carbon Dioxide Record:Keeling Record 1958 - 1999

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1957 1963 1969 1975 1981 1987 1993 1999

Year

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0100,000200,000300,000400,000

carb

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Years Before 2100 AD

Vostok Ice Core

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

IPCC 2001

Current

Business as Usual

Clean Energy & Efficiency

Source: ACIA, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, Climate Impact Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press, 2004

Observed sea ice September 1979

These two images, constructed from satellite data, compare arctic sea ice concentrations in September of 1979 and 2003. September is the month in which sea ice is at its yearly minimum and 1979 marks the first year that data of this kind became available in meaningful form. The lowest concentration of sea ice on record was in September 2002.

Observed sea ice September 2003

DEPLETION OFSUMMER SEA ICE

Seasonal surface melt extent on the Greenland Ice Sheet has been observed by satellite since 1979 and shows an increasing trend. The melt zone, where summer warmth turns snow and ice around the edges of the ice sheet into slush and ponds of meltwater, has been expanding inland and to record high elevations in recent years. When the meltwater seeps down through cracks in the ice sheet, it may accelerate melting and, in some areas, allow the ice to slide more easily over the bedrock below, speeding its movement to the sea. In addition to contributing to global sea-level rise, this process adds freshwater to the ocean, with potential impacts on ocean circulation and thus regional climate.

Source: ACIA, Impacts of a Warming Arctic, Climate Impact Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press, 2004

GREENLAND ICE SHEET MELT EXTENT

We need to focus on local andregional

needs/resources.

-What are our Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Our emissions choices affect future NE climate

Pie chart source: Energy Information Administration (EIA), State Energy Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions by Fuel (2001).

We need to focus on local and regional needs/resources.

-Where does our energy come from and what does it cost?

Natural Gas

Petroleum

Coal

$5.4 Billion

$15.5 Billion$450 million

Source: EIA data

The High Cost of Importing Carbon Wholesale Fossil Fuel Expenditures – New England

Fossil Fuel Expenditures in 2004 = $21 BillionOnly 16% for Electric Generation

(Public School Expenditures FY2004 = $23.6 Billion)

We need to focus on local andregional

needs/resources.

-Where does our food come from?

An Average of 1,500 Miles

Postponed action is no longer an option…

•We have greatly exceeded the resources available to us.

•The time to consider our footprint and focus on local solutions is now.

•UK 12 acres

•US 24 acres

•Ecovillage 6 acres

Source: W. Eugene Smith The Family of Man Exhibition

What Will the Future Be? Our Decisions Today Will Shape Tomorrow

www.cleanair-coolplanet.orgChrista Koehler

Community Program Manager603. 313. 5182

ckoehler@cleanair-coolplanet.org