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New global warming legislation is raising the heat on the greenhouse gas debate as it makes its way through the Senate.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Cinn., and Sen. John Warner, D-Va., introduced a climate change bill to a Senate environment subcommittee Oct. 24.
America's Climate Security Act aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2050, according to the senators' Web sites.
The bill proposes a complex plan to gradually reduce greenhouse gasses by 2 percent each year by setting mandatory limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
It would establish a market-based system in which major industrial greenhouse gas emitters to buy and sell allowances to emit greenhouse emissions. A federal climate change corporation would auction these allowances to businesses and use the proceeds to promote new environmental technologies.
Chico State students from the Chico Research Foundation and the Institute for Sustainable Development will go before the City Council on Nov. 7 to request a contract to conduct a greenhouse gas inventory for the city.
The issue of carbon emissions is a global problem with only local solutions, said Mark Stemen, adviser of Chico State's Green Campus Program.
"Thirty-five percent of global warming gasses comes from the operation of buildings and another 35 percent comes from the operation of transportation, both of which are very local issues," he said.
The issue of carbon emissions is a global problem with only local solutions, said Mark Stemen, adviser of Chico State's Green Campus Program.
"This bill is a preliminary baby step in the right direction, but slowing down global warming is going to take a fundamental change in the way our economy works," said Thomas Imhoff, adviser for the Earth Peace Project at Chico State.
The U.S. is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Other major emitters include China, Russia, the European Union, Japan and India. America's Climate Security Act has caused significant debate among environmentalists, according to the sites.
"It proposes more of the same growth-oriented economic behavior with some tweaking," Imhoff said. "That is not going to do much in the long run to slow down global warming."
The Senate rejected a similar carbon emissions bill in 2003 with a 55-43 vote. The Bush administration said a bill of this nature would cause serious harm to the U.S. economy.
"To focus so much energy and money on global warming right now is a waste of resources," said chemistry major Chris Lyons. "We really don't have enough scientific evidence to prove that humans are the cause of it at this point."
The earth has existed for more than 4 billion years and there is data for only 500,000 years - a very small percentage of climate changes, Lyons said.
"We could just be in another period of temporary warming," he said.
Debate surrounding this bill suggests there is no single party to blame, Stemen said.
"It's not going to be easy, but dealing with the consequences will be far worse than inaction," Stemen said.
Amanda Drew can be reached at adrew@theorion.com
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