The Waxman Markey bill

Legislation known as the Waxman-Markey Bill has passed through Congress and will now go before the Senate. A good rule of thumb says that the simpler and shorter a bill is, the more impact it has. Weighing in with 1200 pages the fossil fuel lobbyists and entrenched interests have done in the US what they did to the CPRS- It’s so watered down that if it were a medicine, it might well be classified as homeopathic. It's still a matter of too little, and hopefully not, but perhaps too late.

Scientists, via the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, have said that by 2020 developed countries must make 25-40% cuts in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990 levels. This is to give a better than even chance of limiting the ultimate rise in global temperature to under 2C, a level seen as representing dangerous climate change.

Here's what the main players have pledged so far by 2020, compared with 1990 levels:

 

EU  20-30%

US  0%

Japan  8%

Russia 10-15%

Australia  3-24%

Canada  3%

 

China, India and other developing nations will be asked at the Copenhagen negotiations to commit to reducing their emissions compared with "business as usual", but none has yet made a specific pledge.

 

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Welcome to Sustainability in Stonnington's website


SIS members believe in thinking globally and acting locally to stop climate change. We are a not for profit, non political community group.  Our mission is to to promote sustainable practices within the community and to assist Stonnington residents and businesses to lower their energy and water use. SIS works to achieve these goals by practically asSISting householders and businesses to measure and reduce their energy use and by disseminating information on a range of environmental issues via forums, events and this website. SIS works within a growing national alliance of communities, climate action groups and NGOs to achieve environmental sustainability. We welcome new members. Please contact us via the button at the bottom of this screen. 

 

The Stonnington Council area comprises the suburbs of Armadale, Glen Iris, Kooyong, Prahran, Toorak, Malvern, South Yarra and Windsor (part). SIS Incorporated is the first Climate Change group in the Stonnington council area. The Stonnington City Council is currently engaged in accelerating its Cities for Climate Change Program (CCP) and actively supports the initiatives of SIS.

 

Climate Picture of the Week

(courtesy of Newsweek)

 

 A sign of the Time (s) Square

From counting the national debt to counting greenhouse gases..