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The Global Warming Cause
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Loading...Obama Pledges Government Will Reduce Emissions By 28 Percent
The Obama administration announced on Friday, January 29, 2010 the federal government would reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 28 percent by 2020 from 2008 levels. The emissions reduction pledge is a result of an executive order Obama signed in October, which covers 35 government agencies. The agencies have to submit plans to the Office of Management and Budget by June for meeting the emissions reduction target.
In 2008, the federal government spent over $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel, Obama said in a statement. “As the largest energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient,” Obama said. “Our goal is to lower costs, reduce pollution, and shift federal energy expenses away from oil and towards local, clean energy.”
The federal government operates over 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles, according to Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
“President Obama recognizes that it’s the federal government’s responsibility to lead by example in sustainability and on our efforts to build a clean-energy economy,” Sutley told reporters. She added that the plan aims to save $8 billion to $11 billion in energy costs through 2020. Completing the plan would amount to reducing 88 million metric tons of GHG emissions by 2020, equivalent to taking 17 million vehicles off the road for a year.
The announcement came a day after Obama submitted a pledge to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat to reduce GHG emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. It will require congressional approval.
Obama said during his State of the Union address last week that the nation which “leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy, and America must be that nation.” He added, “We need to encourage American innovation. And no area is more ripe for such innovation than energy.”.
“It’s one of the things government can do to set an example – and something the president is able to do without waiting for Congress to get its act together,” said David Hawkins, director of the Natural Resource Defense Council’s climate center. “Obviously this by itself is not sufficient, but it is a welcome step for the government to come up with a specific reduction plan. I suspect they will find that they can do even better. But 28 percent is still a meaningful number.
Read more: emissions, global warming, government, obama, reduction
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+ add your ownObama is working so hard . . and it seems he keeps hitting obstacles IE : the rest of Washington
5% of the Earth's population is causing 25% of the total greenhouse emissions.
Cut that 28% by 2020...so...???
should be alot more.....and paint roofs white! do all the small things...light bulbs etc
Our president is promoting green energy more than anyone before him, and is being fought every step of the way. This proposed reduce of emissions is not enough, but I am thankful for small steps.
Hey Johnathan S. where do you think all the CO2 from burning fossil fuels goes? Do you understand enough physics to understand the greenhouse effect?
The CO2 from modern industrialization has added so much CO2 to the atmosphere and oceans that they are at levels that the Earth has never seen before. Each additional ppm of CO2 is another blanket around the Earth that keeps the heat globally here. So the Earth will continue to warm (on average) until we DECREASE the CO2 level. We are on a course to DISRUPT the CLIMATE of the EARTH for the next millennium.
Here in the NE of USA we have southern trees growing where they never used to, we have birds staying the winter that never used to, we can grow southern plants/flowers that we've never been able to grow before.
The USA emits ~ 20X that is twenty times the CO2 per person compared to the world average. A lot of that is from 30-50 year investments in power plants. Every effort to improve efficiency, conserve energy, and emit less CO2 is a step in the right direction.
Good article..we waste more than other other country on the planet I think..if anyone knows of one more wasteful..please let us hear about it.
Someone is getting ver well paid for stuff we don't even need to use...no wonder we are in debt over the top of our heads!
The most efficient thing the United States Government could do along this line is to reduce the immense environmental footprint caused by the American military invading every country they please on the planet.
"Yankee stay home" could be the greenest motto of all time.
The most efficient thing the United States Government could do along this line is to reduce the immense environmental footprint caused by the American military invading every country they please on the planet.
"Yankee stay home" could be the greenest motto of all time.
Hope this happens. Global warming is killing lots of habitats for animals, and is damaging our environment, we have to do something about it :)
Please tell me this is a freaking joke!
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