The majority of scientists agree that humans can help slow global warming. Some of the ideas include:
1. Use nuclear power instead of fossil fuels
2. Use solar and wind instead of fossil fuels
3. Cut down on carbon dioxide produced by animal agriculture
4. Plant more trees
This guidebook provides an overview of the clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment programs in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, including who is eligible to apply for funding and for what activities.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/inflation-reduction-act-guidebook/
I offer you some links to articles and videos in case you need some data in conversations with people about climate change.
David Remnick talks with a leader of the Republican Conservative Climate Caucus about her party’s stance on climate change, her belief that fossil fuels cannot be rapidly phased out.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/tnyradiohour/episodes/talking-conservatives-about-climate-change
Another video that discusses the controversy: https://fb.watch/n7u7tAo3ZO/?mibextid=NnVzG8
“We are thrilled to announce the historic rulemaking from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for NuScale’s small modular reactor design, and we thank the Department of Energy (DOE) for their support throughout this process,” said NuScale Power President and Chief Executive Officer John Hopkins. “The DOE has been an invaluable partner with a shared common goal – to establish an innovative and reliable carbon-free source of energy here in the U.S. We look forward to continuing our partnership and working with the DOE to bring the UAMPS Carbon Free Power Project to completion.”
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/nrc-certifies-first-us-small-modular-reactor-design
The transportation sector accounts for 29% of U.S. greenhouse gases, according to the Energy Information Agency. Transportation includes airplanes, trains, buses, large trucks, and pipelines.
https://www.cato.org/blog/blaming-us-passenger-vehicles-climate-change-ignorant-lucrative-1
Fossil fuel use is the primary source of CO2.
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data
CO2 Emissions by Country
https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by-country/
the industrialisation of the Global North over the past two centuries has generated most of the human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change. In fact, it is estimated that the Global North is responsible for 92 percent of GHG emissions.
https://www.fairplanet.org/story/how-climate-colonialism-affects-the-global-south/
In September 2020, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong filed a lawsuit in Connecticut state court against Exxon Mobil. The lawsuit advances eight claims against the oil company for producing, promoting and marketing its oil products for decades, while engaging in a campaign of deception to conceal from Connecticut consumers that burning fossil fuels contributes to climate change.
https://stateimpactcenter.org/issues/climate-action/suits-against-oil-companies
Projections created internally by ExxonMobil starting in the late 1970s on the impact of fossil fuels on climate change were very accurate, even surpassing those of some academic and governmental scientists, according to an analysis published Thursday in Science by a team of Harvard-led researchers. Despite those forecasts, team leaders say, the multinational energy giant continued to sow doubt about the gathering crisis.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/01/harvard-led-analysis-finds-exxonmobil-internal-research-accurately-predicted-climate-change/
In 2022, about 4,243 billion kilowatthours (kWh) (or about 4.24 trillion kWh) of electricity were generated at utility-scale electricity generation facilities in the United States.1 About 60% of this electricity generation was from fossil fuels—coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases. About 18% was from nuclear energy, and about 22% was from renewable energy sources.
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Coefficients by Fuel
https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php
As the first new U.S. nuclear power reactor since 2016 begins operations, more Americans now say they favor expanding nuclear power in the United States than a few years ago, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/18/growing-share-of-americans-favor-more-nuclear-power/
When the Wall Street Journal publishes yet another argument for doing nothing about global warming, it’s just a dog-bites-man story. So why should anybody get particularly exercised by the Journal’s latest incarnation of this fixed idea, in the form of an extended essay by Steve Koonin? It was to be expected that the Journal would try to take some pre-emptive action on the eve of the opening of the United Nations Climate Summit in New York and the world’s largest climate-action rally. What makes Koonin’s piece noteworthy more than anything else is the messenger.
https://slate.com/technology/2014/10/the-wall-street-journal-and-steve-koonin-the-new-face-of-climate-change-inaction.html
The Livermore results raise hopes that fusion can one day be used to generate bountiful amounts of electricity without producing greenhouse gases or long-lived radioactive waste.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/science/nuclear-laser-fusion-nif.html
