Global Warming Quiz

1. Q: Why is it important for the Earth’s atmosphere to have a concentration of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide or less?
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2. Q: To stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at 350 parts per million, global emissions must peak by which year?
a) Now
b) 2015
c) 2020
d) 2025
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3. True or False - Right now the Clean Air Act requires the administration to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from coal-fired power plants?
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4. True or False – In Europe, which has instituted a “cap and trade” system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon "offsets" that companies can buy if they produce more pollution than the cap allows, usually come from sustainable green development projects in poor countries.
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5. True or False – If the House climate bill (H.R. 2454) became law, U.S. greenhouse gas pollution would be required to be cut incrementally over the next twenty years.
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6. True or False – The Senate is working right now on its version of a climate bill that is a step better than the House-passed climate bill (H.R. 2454).
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1. A: 350 parts per million atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide means the world has a better than 50/50 chance of avoiding warming of an additional 2 degrees Fahrenheit, based on the best scientific modeling. Additional warming of 2 degrees is the generally-agreed temperature at which some of the worst effects of global warming begin to occur.

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2. A: b) 2015

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3. True - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled under Massachusetts vs. EPA that greenhouse gases are pollutants covered under the Clean Air Act. In fact, the administration is already moving forward with rules that would begin to regulate greenhouse gases.

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4. False - 50 percent of offsets issued to-date in the UN-backed offset system that Europe uses come from capturing a chemical (HFC) released when making a common refrigerant. Selling HFC offsets can be more profitable for companies then selling the refrigerant, thus setting-up a perverse incentive to build more HFC-producing factories. This activity does not represent sustainable development. In fact, only thirteen percent of offsets have been issued for renewable energy projects. This represents one, but not the only, problem with global warming legislation that relies on offsets for greenhouse pollution reductions.

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5. False - Because of the House climate bill's extensive carbon "offset" provisions, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions could actually rise over the next two decades if all offsets were used.

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6. True – All this week and possibly next, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is working on passing out S.1733, the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. The Senate bill is a step better than the House-passed bill by maintaining most Clean Air Act provisions that can ensure that old, dirty coal-fired power plants reduce their pollution and new plants are built to basic emission standards. The Senate bill also sets slightly stronger emission reduction targets than the House-passed bill – 20 percent below 2005 levels vs. 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020.

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