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1. The potential role for management of U.S. public lands in greenhouse gas mitigation and climate policy.

Author

Olander LP, Cooley DM, and Galik CS

Subjects
Environmental Monitoring, Federal Government, Gases analysis, Gases metabolism, Global Warming, United States, Climate Change, Conservation of Natural Resources methods, Environmental Policy, Greenhouse Effect
Abstract

Management of forests, rangelands, and wetlands on public lands, including the restoration of degraded lands, has the potential to increase carbon sequestration or reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions beyond what is occurring today. In this paper we discuss several policy options for increasing GHG mitigation on public lands. These range from an extension of current policy by generating supplemental mitigation on public lands in an effort to meet national emissions reduction goals, to full participation in an offsets market by allowing GHG mitigation on public lands to be sold as offsets either by the overseeing agency or by private contractors. To help place these policy options in context, we briefly review the literature on GHG mitigation and public lands to examine the potential for enhanced mitigation on federal and state public lands in the United States. This potential will be tempered by consideration of the tradeoffs with other uses of public lands, the needs for climate change adaptation, and the effects on other ecosystem services.

Published
2012
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2. Greenhouse Suits.

Author

Mukerjee, Madhusree

Subjects
*GLOBAL warming laws, *ENVIRONMENTAL law, *GREENHOUSE effect, *GLOBAL warming, *GLOBAL temperature changes, *ACTIONS & defenses (Law), *ENVIRONMENTAL protection, *CLIMATE change, *ENVIRONMENTAL impact charges, *ENVIRONMENTAL policy, *CITIES & towns, *GREEN movement
Abstract

A case filed in San Francisco, California, with the Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the cities of Boulder, Colorado, and Oakland, California, as plaintiffs, seeks to force two government agencies to assess the total impact on climate of the projects they finance. Litigation may soon be the weapon of choice for those concerned about human-induced global warming. In the San Francisco case, the plaintiffs charge that the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (ExIm) have provided $32 billion in loans, insurance and loan guarantees for oil pipelines, oil drilling and other fossil-fuel endeavors that will ultimately result in the emission of 32 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the life of the projects. The lawsuit does not attempt to cancel ongoing projects but asks only that OPIC and ExIm determine the "cumulative impact" on the climate of every future project. Such a review, asserts Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth, is required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The plaintiffs are confronted with many hurdles. They will have to demonstrate that they face harm from global warming and, in particular, from the agencies' actions. The cities contend that their water supplies are in jeopardy. Scientific uncertainties over such claims can be partly overcome by aggregating harm done over a large span of space and time, contends David Grossman, a recent graduate of Yale Law School and now a law clerk in Anchorage. In a paper to be published in the 'Columbia Journal of Environmental Law,' Grossman argues that tort litigation over global warming--in which communities or states seek damages from oil companies, electric utilities and automobile manufacturers--is entirely feasible. INSET: WHOSE FAULT IS IT ANYWAY?.

Published
2003
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3. GREENSTAMPING.

Subjects
PRINTING industry, CERTIFICATION, ENVIRONMENTAL policy, GREENHOUSE gas mitigation, GREENHOUSE effect, CARBON dioxide mitigation, GLOBAL warming, ENVIRONMENTAL law
Abstract

The article offers information in getting a green certification in the U.S. According to the author, compliance with the regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities is the first step that the printer should take into consideration. He added that after satisfying the requirements, printers move in obtaining certification for papers used with three groups such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the European Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Moreover, buying emission offsets or using resources with built-in offsets is the simplest way for printers to address the global warming issue. INSET: Figuring paper's impact.

Published
2007

4. Global Climate Change: A Concise History of Negotiations and Chronology of Major Activities Preceding the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention: 98-431.

Author

Morrissey, Wayne A.

Subjects
CLIMATE change, CLIMATOLOGY, GREENHOUSE effect, AIR pollution, GREENHOUSE gases, ENVIRONMENTAL policy, INTERNATIONAL cooperation
Abstract

It is difficult to ascribe a starting point for U.S. involvement in the issue of global climate change. The scientific theory of an ''enhanced greenhouse effect,'' resulting from industrial air pollution is now a hundred years old. Since the late 1950s, scientists within the ranks of the U.S. federal government have participated in scientific workshops and international conferences on the nature of Earth's climate system and the role of carbon dioxide (C02) and other greenhouse gases that are believed to modify the global climate. Extensive involvement of the U.S. government from the perspective of formulating U.S. policy and assuming a diplomatic role in international debates, which relate to this issue, probably began in earnest around 1978, with efforts to coordinate federal government activities in research into global climate change. Various activities since helped to achieve the first international agreement aimed at controlling greenhouse gases, the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which sought voluntary controls on emissions by industrialized countries. In the ongoing international policy debate, attention has been turned to the post -2000 period, and what actions may be necessary to protect the climate to prevent possible economic and environmental disruption. The historical context of the current debate is important in understanding the fundamental issues about global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Published
1998