Halfway back from the moon

(Paul Lachine)

Like the rich man in the parable, we Americans “fare sumptuously every day” on the world’s resources. At 5 percent of the world’s population, we own 34 percent of the world’s cars, and use 25 percent of its oil. There are roughly 34 cars per 1,000 people in China, and 490 per 1,000 here. We use our cars for more than 95 percent of all the trips we take while public transportation struggles for a foothold.

The average car produces an annual 5 to 8 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Each mile driven contributes a pound or more. Many with decades of driving behind us have perhaps covered the mileage equivalent of a trip to the moon and halfway back. That orb is only 250,000 miles away.

Do the math and reflect on your own contribution.

In October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet’s history. At over 5,200 events around the world, people gathered to call for bold action and leadership on the climate crisis.

In 2012 the Kyoto Protocol to prevent runaway climate change expires. To keep the process going, there is an urgent need for a new climate protocol. At next month’s U.N. Framework Committee on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, leaders meet for the last time before the climate agreement needs to be renewed. Good results from the Copenhagen conference are essential.

An October 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of Americans think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71 percent had said there was solid evidence. This is a sharp and unsettling decline. And fewer also see global warming as a very serious problem -- 35 percent say that now, down from 44 percent in 2008.

Despite the growing skepticism about global warming, the survey finds more support than opposition for a policy to set limits on carbon emissions. Half of Americans favor setting limits on carbon emissions and making companies pay for their emissions, even if this may lead to higher energy prices; 39 percent oppose imposing limits on carbon emissions under these circumstances.

Meanwhile, drought for a fifth year running is driving more than 23 million East Africans in seven countries toward severe hunger and destitution, international aid agency Oxfam said recently. Failed and unpredictable rains are ever more common in the region. Broader climate change means wet seasons become shorter. Droughts have increased from once a decade to every two or three years.

In Ethiopia, 13.7 million people are at risk of severe hunger and need help, Oxfam said. Many are selling cattle to buy food. Farmers in northern Uganda have lost half their crops. Other countries hard hit are Sudan, Djibouti and Tanzania.

A new study suggests that the United States could reduce its greenhouse emissions significantly if we undertook a short list of behavioral changes, like carpooling, insulating homes, and drying clothes outside instead of in a dryer. Over 10 years, shifting behavior could save 123 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, or 20 percent of U.S. household emissions, “with little or no effect on household well-being” -- easy steps with big results, especially perhaps for Africa.