Heal Earth Now

We know that carbon emissions are affecting climate change. A change in our environment is bound to affect the plants, animals and humans. Researchers are putting a number of live saved if we can reduce the amount of carbon emissions.

The calculations of lives saved were based on computer models that looked at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers conceded.

Some possible benefits seemed highly speculative, the researchers conceded, based on people driving less and walking and cycling more. Other proposals studied were more concrete and achievable, such as eliminating cook stoves that burn dung, charcoal and other polluting fuels in the developing world.

And cutting carbon dioxide emissions also makes the air cleaner, reducing lung damage for millions of people, doctors said.

“Here are ways you can attack major health problems at the same time as dealing with climate change,” said lead author Dr. Paul Wilkinson, an environmental epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The calculations are based on proposals that would cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050. To accomplish that, industrialized countries have to cut emissions by 83 percent. Obama’s proposal, also unveiled Wednesday with his Copenhagen announcement, is in sync with that.

Source: Associated Press

The United Nations would like to see a ban on the use of plastic bags. 

the United Nations Environment Programme says that growing marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide.  It launched a report that takes stock of the growing garbage in 12 major regional seas.  UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner, says that “marine litter could be dramatically reduced by improving waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives”.  He also calls for a worldwide ban on thin film plastic bags.  In addition to this report, UNEP introduced a new online system which has the most globally comprehensive list of marine and terrestrial protected areas.

It has become fashionable to have reusable cloth bags so instituting a ban on plastic bags will not be a huge shock .  Not everyone uses those bags during their shopping excursion, but with a ban it would become necessary.  Some stores sell the reusable clothe bags for 99 cents.  But if more demand for those reusable bags were occur, I would not be surprised to the prices of those bags fall even lower.

According to KansasCity.com

The ban is already being tested in China, where retailers giving out thin bags can be fined up to $1,464. According to one nationwide survey, 40 billion fewer plastic bags were given out in grocery stores after the law’s enactment. In addition, Ireland managed to cut single-use plastic bag consumption 90 percent by levying a fee on each bag that consumers use.

In the United States, only San Francisco has completely banned plastic bags; Los Angeles will do so in 2010. Also, the city council in Washington, D.C., is set to vote on a five-cent-a-bag tax later this month. On first reading, the bill passed unanimously. Similar proposals have failed in New York and Philadelphia.

We will have to see how many other cities throughout the United States will also ban plastic bags.

Sources:KansasCity.com UN.org