(reprinted
from The New York Times)
By
Alan Riley
The
battle against runaway climate change is being lost. The green
movement and the energy industry — while engaged in a furious
debate on issues from nuclear power to oil sands — are missing the
bigger picture.
There
is little recognition by either side that current policies to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions are inadequate for dealing with the threat
that they pose. It is the coal-fueled growth of countries like China
and India that generates much of these emissions. Unless a cheap,
rapidly deployable substitute fuel is found for coal, then it will be
next to impossible to safely rein in rising carbon dioxide levels
around the world.
Although
the green movement might at first see shale gas as an enemy in this
fight, it may in fact turn out to be a friend. Broad development of
shale gas resources — with proper ecological safeguards — could
be the best way to achieve the quick cuts in carbon dioxide emissions
that we need to maintain a habitable environment on Earth.
The
International Energy Agency has made it clear that, under current
energy policies, the door is closing on our attempts to contain the
carbon-driven rise in global temperatures to within 2 degrees Celsius
(3.6 Fahrenheit) by the middle of the century. In fact, worldwide
carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels reached a record
high of 31.6 gigatons in 2011. With emissions rising by one gigaton
per year, it appears the temperature-increase target will most likely
be missed...
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