environmental stories to watch in 2011

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Environmental Stories to Watch: 2011 Jonathan Lash World Resources Institute January 6, 2011 Global Vision for a Sustainable Earth Practical Solutions for People Twitter Hashtag: #stw11 - www.wri.org/storiestowatch

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Environmental Stories to Watch: 2011

Jonathan LashWorld Resources Institute

January 6, 2011

Global Vision for a Sustainable EarthPractical Solutions for People

Twitter Hashtag: #stw11 - www.wri.org/storiestowatch

(Khalid Tanveer/Associated Press)

NASA satellite image of the ice island (top-left quadrant of image) that recently broke off the floating ice shelf of the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland. Credit: NASA.

Russia burning, August, 2010

REUTERS / Denis Sinyakov

NASA

Flooding in Pakistan, August, 2010

(AP)

The Associated Press

Image: www.ohvec.org

BP's Oil Spill, April 20-July 15, 2010

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm

Petroleum Products:

Source: EPA, http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/usinventoryreport.html

http://theblindedeye.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/the-mccain-palin-generational-challenge-clean-burning-coal/

Coal-Fired Power PlantGas-Fired Power Plant

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/07/la-regions-powe.html

Solar Power Station

http://www.solar-green-wind.com/archives/tag/photovoltaic-power-plant

Nuclear Power Plant

Transportation Sector (29% US Emissions)• New post-2017 standards for cars and light trucks• First-ever standards for medium- and heavy-duty

trucks to be finalized in 2011

Electric Power Sector (34% US Emissions)• Pre-construction permitting program applies BACT to

new large GHG pollution sources• Performance standards for existing power plants will

be proposed byJuly 26, 2011; finalized by May 26, 2012

Industry (15% US Emissions)• Performance standards for existing refineries to be

proposed by December 15, 2011; finalized in November 15, 2012

WATCH THE U.S. EPA

Put Corn inYour Tank ?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=FAOFOODI:IND

http://www.potash1.ca/s/Fundamentals.asp

Total Global Liquid Biofuel Production (megatonnes), 1980-2008

Source: International Energy Agency, Online Data Services, 2010, http://data.iea.org/.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008

Other

Biodiesels

Biogasoline

Projected Increase in Global Fertilizer* Consumption

0

50

100

150

200

250

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

mil

lion

met

ric

ton

s

Source: FAO data cited in Selman, M. and S. Greenhalgh. 2009. Eutrophication: Sources and Drivers. Water Quality: Eutrophication and Hypoxia Policy Note Series No.2. Washington, DC: World Resources Institute *Fertilizer consumption includes nitrogen, phosphates, and potash.

Irrigation has allowed us to feed more people using the same amount of land…

22

Pollution to rivers is increasing

source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

% Increase in nitrogen flows in rivers since the mid-1990s

Source: USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, Commodity Intelligence Report: http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/highlights/2009/03/Indonesia/

A soybean shipment at a farm in Brazil. The new link between Brazil and China marks a profound shift in world agricultural trade. Once the biggest bilateral food trade flowed between the United States, the world's largest food exporter, and Japan. But countries with vast arable land for expansion, particularly Brazil, are now racing to meet demand in China.

Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times

Source: Oedekoven, 1980 (in Williams 2006)

More than a billion hectares of degraded forest landscapes offer opportunities for restoration

GM Chevrolet Volt: $41,000

Nissan Leaf: $32,780 Ford Focus EV: TBA

Coda Sedan: $44,900

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

0

50

100

150

200

250

petrol/diesel renewable electricity

natural gas @ 55% efficiency

diesel @ 30% efficiency

black coal @ 35% efficiency

brown coal @ 27% efficiency

gram

s C

O2

-e p

er

km

gram

s C

O2

-e p

er

km

Relative Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Petroleum vs Electric Vehicles

Passenger car

City bus

Source: Andrew Simpson

Photo: AP

By 2012, China

will have more

kms of HSR

than the rest of

the world

combined.

Photo by Philip Roeland

EMBARQ’s

projects have

served more

than a billion

passengers.

Cumulative results:

129.3kilometers of high-capacity

transit built

720,000tons of CO2 reduced

1.1 billionpassengers served

39%travel time reduced per trip

355

millionhours saved

SOURCE: EMBARQ

Global

Impact

Photo by SUM-Turkiye.

http://allworldcars.com/wordpress/?p=11866

Sao PauloRio de Janeiro

http://allworldcars.com/wordpress/?p=11866

Issue Provisions Next step

Targets •Developed country targets and developing country actions to be documented under UNFCCC

•Parties to submit information on their targets

Transparency

•More frequent and better reporting for majoreconomies•An international review ofcountries climate actions

•Create an international registry

Fund •A Green Climate Fund •Deliver fast-start funding and identify other possible long-term sources of funding

REDD+ •A commitment and framework to reduce pressures on forests

•Agree definitions and rules•Make the safeguardsoperational

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (L) speaks at a seminar on drawing up China's 12th Five-Year (2011 to 2015) Plan in Ningbo City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 7, 2010.

(Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Photo via Fulton County Republicans

Environmental Stories to Watch: 2011

Twitter Hashtag: #stw11www.wri.org/storiestowatch