Comment Log Display

The protocols are potentially cause for an increase in the
generation of greenhouse gases (GHGs).

If we take the position that coal mining is essential to "economic
growth" or "energy sufficiency" we have lost the battle to limit
GHGs before it begins. Any subsidy for the production of coal
should simply be eliminated. No such subsidy should be added. The
release of methane should be capped since this is a potent methane
gas. If coal producers can't stop this release they should be shut
down. If that law isn't on our books, it should be added.
California can't be the rear guard on fighting global warming.
Among the States we must be a leader and among nations the United
States must become a leader.

Planting rice is a short term sop. Increased cultivation activity
will cause the use of additional fuel and a permanent release of
GHGs, while the rice plants will absorb atmospheric carbon for a
single growing season. As soon as the plants die they will begin to
release GHG's including potent methane. Credits should be earned by
planting and pledging to maintain redwoods - sequoia sempervirens -
for their natural life. At the very least the generation of credits
should require the lease of "harvestable tree" lands and not
cutting trees down. The point is credits should be earned by
actions that will make a difference of the long term. We are in a
forty-year battle. We must make substantive changes to the way we
use, generate and store energy and replace our entire energy and
transportation infrastructure. The stop-gap measures need a
forty-year life just to bridge us to that future.