Global warming is local

This weekend I attended a workshop about global warming at the local level, held by the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

So, what does it mean that the global warming is local? The workshop did not provide evidence of the weather getting warmer in Wisconsin. Instead, those experts presented models for evaluating climate change, introduced the situation of a governmental task force in charge of policy-making related to climate change, and discussed what UW has done in its effort to tackle the problem.

It is interesting to learn that battling global climate change does not and can not dependent on a simple, all-encompassing approach. Different areas faced different problems and challenges in relation to climate change. For instance, Wisconsin uses a lot of coal for electricity, which released a great amount of carbon into the air. The main source of carbon or CO2 in California, however, comes from vehicle emissions.

It is also interesting to learn that UW has been dedicated to many efforts that is environmentally beneficial. For example, many of the buildings on campus use energy-effective glasses, nice ventilation systems, and rain water recycling systems.

They also talked about the use of biofuel, fuel produced from plants and crops, to decrease the level of greenhouse gas in the air. This remind me of an interesting conversation taken place between a friend of mine and me. One day when we were at a BP gas station, which always touts its efforts in contributing to a better environment by providing "green" fuels, T.L. Lin saw the "10% ethanol" label at the pumps and asked me what good ethanol will do to our vehicles. Both of us were thinking maybe it will make our cars run faster or to have better gas millage. In other words, we both relate the addition of ethanol in petrol to the economic aspect of our life, instead of the environmental aspect.

It is good to see that some steps have already been taken, at the state or local level, to combat climate change. Although I sometimes complain about the unusual hot weather during the summer, it never occurs to me that the battle grounds are so close to me.

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For some discussion about the relationship between ethanol (in the fuel) and global warming, please see Ethanol and Global Warming

For more articles related to biofuel and global warming, please see the Science page in the NY Times and Turn Food into Fuel in the Time Magazine.

Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE)