training in trading

While George Bush is kicking and screaming against the Kyoto Protocol, 150 cities in the U.S. are implementing local climate action plans, reports Grist. And since 2003 the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) has been providing North America's first and only voluntary, but legally binding, emissions-trading market. With 90 participants and carbon trading units priced very low, some critics say the CCX doesn't amount to much, but as the world moves towards mandatory carbon monitoring, the CCX provides a good training ground. It's not as strong as the European Union's exchange, with more than 12,000 industrial plants on board, but advocates say that companies that have already started monitoring carbon emissions will have a competitive edge, a head start for the day when regulation does come.

transport needs to change

Highbeam Library Research reported on 18 Feb 2004 in the European Report:

Road transport generates more than one fifth of all carbon dioxide emissions in the EU, with passenger cars being responsible for more than half of these emissions.

And here's another lesser-known fact: Standard engineering practice in urban design is to channel rainwater into the stormwater drains, while we replace that rain by using treated drinking water to irrigate our gardens. Makes no sense. And transport's role in this? According to the Center for Watershed Protection, as much as 65% of the total impervious surface cover in the American landscape are surfaces designed for cars including, but not limited to, streets, parking lots, and driveways.

[Source: Driving Urban Environments: Smart Growth Parking Best Practices, a Publication of the Governor's Office of Smart Growth, State of Maryland.]