titled "U.S. Emits Nearly Half World's Automotive Carbon Dioxide".
According to a report published by the advocacy group Environmental Defense, US has 5% of the world's population and 30% of the world's automobiles, but it contributes 45% of the world's automotive CO2 emissions. Nearly half!!I was stunned by that number. I heard something like this from a person who works for EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency), but did not guess this high percentage.
The article also said "Cutting greenhouse gas emissions from US automobiles will be critical to any strategy for slowing global warming." I would like to add that it would be even more critical to cut the CO2 emission level from Big 3 automakers (GM, Ford, Chrysler).Figure ES1 clearly shows those Big 3 are the top 3 contributors, worse than any other automakers and electrical companies!
Of course, someone might say, "Hey, those Big 3 have larger shares in market. Of course the number will be higher!!"
Yes, that's true. Even though GM is losing its top
position to Toyota in any day now, they still have a large share. But see the right 2 columns in the Table. It shows the "Market share" & "Carbon burden share". And all American automakers have higher carbon burden share than own market share! This means their car has lower fuel efficiency than US average.Even in the film, An Inconvenient Truth, Gore talks about the CO2 emissions from automobiles. He showed the graph of CO2 emission standard in major countries. Japan was top at a moment, not far from it was EU, then goes Australia, Russia, China, Canada... Where was US? At the bottom among those. How terrible.
Fortunately the state of California is taking an action. California's legislature approved the restrictions on CO2 emissions. First in the nation! But unfortunately, automakers weren't happy about it. They sued CA over this rule...
After reading all reports and articles, I was very disappointed in American Automotive Industry. And I work in this industry. I feel ashamed. A bright side, we could improve so much from here. We are a bottom of all, so we can only rise above!! (I'm so optimistic..)
Once other states follow California, automakers have no choice but adapt its demand. And once automotive industry admits that CO2 emission from cars plays a big role in global warming, they will improve and change it. If US claims that they are leading the world, they should be able to lead in this environmental issue... I hope :)
*All graphs and table were taken from the report, "Global Warming on the Road". The report can be found here.
*"Tell Automakers - Stop Fighting Progress on Global Warming" Campaign
*"Emissions Petition: Undo Global Warming" - Tell Congress to Act
2 コメント:
These are some powerful numbers you found. I think many of us have our priorities set completely wrong and taking convenience or comfortability over responsibility to maintain the planet we live in.
Have you seen a movie called Waterworld(made in 1995)? I can't imagine losing the land, losing the winter, losing many species, and all, you know? But this movie made me think of how it could be like to lose things we take for granted right now.
I know, it's just so terrible. And this problem seems to be so huge and I don't know what I could do to change this. But I know that someone has to voice the opinion. There are plenty of people who believe that government or automakers have to change the course. I put a couple links below the post, one to the automaker to tell them we want co2 emission reduction, another one to the state representatives to point out the problem. I wasn't expecting any replies but I got one from Chrysler, one from State senator. Those were not the personal response, they probably send that same mail to everyone who sent them the petition, so this is just a beginning. Something is better than nothing. Even they don't listen to us now, we cannot stop trying!
コメントを投稿