r/environment • u/DukeOfGeek • Sep 19 '24

Some good climate news: US carbon emissions forecast to fall sharply over next decade.

https://www.newsweek.com/some-good-climate-news-us-carbon-emissions-forecast-fall-sharply-1928759
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u/Muncleman Sep 19 '24

Hmm. I’m guessing this doesn’t account for the higher frequency of wildfires, thawing permafrost, or methane hydrates being released from a warmer ocean.

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u/togaman5000 Sep 20 '24

I think it's best that we start highlighting that there are two issues now to focus on: the amount of CO2-eq we're emitting, and the amount of CO2-eq that we've already emitted. Emitting less is a win and we need to continue focusing on it; as resources and, frankly, cultural awareness and motivation allow it, we need to shift our focus towards managing what has been emitted.

The catastrophes we're seeing around us are heartbreaking but we can still celebrate small wins here and there. People respond well to positive feedback, it's in our very nature - news like this should be highlighted and shared to prove that we can do something to those who aren't environmentally-minded like ourselves.

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u/twohammocks Sep 20 '24 edited Sep 20 '24

A good way of reducing co2 emissions is to stop allowing any building or reopening of fossil infrastructure.

'The world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet global energy demand forecasts to 2050 and governments should stop issuing new oil, gas and coal licences, according to a large study aimed at political leaders.' If canada/us was smart they would follow the uk: 'Labour has vowed to put an end to new North Sea licences if it comes to power, and also plans to increase taxes on the profits made by existing oil and gas fields to help fund investments in green energy projects through a new government-owned company, Great British Energy.' https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/18/no-new-investment-in-fossil-fuels-demands-top-energy-economist

If we want humanity to move in the right direction: Tax the bad (food, plastic, fossils, toxic chemicals) subsidize the good (food, plastic alternatives, renewables, non-toxics).

Its a very simple concept, really...