You can sign the petition
https://cprclimate.org/about/actions-campaigns/petition-to-epa/
---------- Forwarded message ---------
De : James Hansen <[email protected]>
Date: ven. 17 juin 2022 à 16:53
Subject: Carbon Dioxide Is a Pollutant. Please Help Establish That
Fact.
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A PDF of this Communication is available on my webpage [2], along
with prior Communications and other resources.
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Fig. 1. Global surface temperature relative to 1880-1920 mean.
Carbon Dioxide Is a Pollutant. Please Help Establish That Fact.
May 2022 Temperature Update
17 June 2022
James Hansen, Makiko Sato and Reto Ruedy
CO2 fits perfectly EPA’s definition of a chemical substance that
presents “an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the
environment.” Congress, with strong bipartisan agreement,
established the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA; acronym
pronounced tosca) in 1976 and – with bipartisan support again –
strengthened the law in 2016. This law has been used successfully to
phase out or reduce many substances, including asbestos, lead in
paint, PCBs, and CFCs[1]. EPA has broad latitude in how to achieve
reductions and can work with other agencies for that purpose.
Citizens may petition EPA on the need to address a pollutant under
TSCA. EPA must respond to a petition within 90 days. Yesterday
several of us[a] delivered to EPA a petition[2] for phase out of
greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution to restore a stable and healthy
climate. The prospects for EPA to accept their obligation will be
much improved if we can present them with an impressive list of
endorsers of the petition. Please examine the petition and consider
adding your name as an endorser of the petition [8]. United States
citizens are especially relevant as endorsers, but there is also
value in support of world citizens for what is a global problem.
Fig. 1, our global temperature update, is a reminder that the world
is headed inexorably toward hotter conditions, as the cooling effect
of the current strong La Nina barely got global temperature down to
the increasing trendline of global temperature. The 12-month
running-mean temperature is already heading toward the next global
record that will occur in conjunction with the next El Nino.[3]
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[a] Dan Galpern (Hansen’s long-time attorney, who worked for
months on this petition), Donn Vivianni (retired EPA scientist who
alerted us to the TSCA potential for greenhouse gases), Lisa Van
Susteren (physician, writer and world’s leading authority on the
psychiatric effects on young people of daily news about growing
climate impacts while adults do little to alter the course), and
atmospheric chemist John Birks, and Hansen. (Co-petitioner climate
accountability analyst Richard Heede could not be present for the
delivery to EPA).
Fig. 2. Cumulative 1751-2020 fossil fuel carbon emissions (tons
C/person; 2020 populations). Horizontal lines are multiples of the
global mean. The order of individual nations from left to right is
based on cumulative national emissions.
Fig. 2 is a reminder that the United States is most responsible for
the fossil fuel CO2 emissions that are the dominant cause of
human-made climate change. We can also be leaders in the solution if
we begin to make the polluters pay via a steadily rising carbon fee
with the funds distributed to the public (a conservative, bipartisan
approach). Of course, the timing has to be right. The best time was
years ago. If the rising price had started a decade and a half ago,
when Obama and Biden were elected and had the opportunity afforded
by a global financial emergency, U.S. emissions and fossil fuel use
would be down at least 40% and we would have plenty of excess energy
capacity to help Europe with its near-term fossil fuel energy
demands.
Evoking TSCA will not demand an instant carbon price – the timing
needs to be sensible. However, it will be a huge step, putting us on
a course with the potential to address the climate problem globally.
The huge U.S. economy allows the opportunity to affect the global
approach via border duties on products from countries that do not
have a carbon fee.
Other policies also need to be sensible. Whose idea was it to
immediately halt import of Russian fuels? The predictable effect was
to raise the price of fossil fuels, causing huge pain in the West
– and in the rest of the world, which thus must choose to look the
other way as Ukraine suffers.
What courage. When Putin says that he will get angry if we send the
weapons that Ukrainians need to defend their nation, our leaders
quake and instead take actions that sacrifice Ukrainian lives, raise
our own energy costs, and increase Putin’s profits needed to wage
war.
It’s expecting a lot to ask young people to understand what their
political leaders are doing, but as we mentioned in last month’s
temperature update [9], that seems to be necessary, and young people
have tremendous potential political power. More on that later.
Hansen, Van Susteren, Vivianni and Galpern about to deliver petition
(Birks was photographer).
-------------------------
[1] CFCs hardly seemed toxic. In early advertisements, the chemical
industry showed a person breathing in “harmless” CFCs, but then
we discovered their impact on the ozone layer and their greenhouse
gas effect. Likewise, CO2 was initially thought to be a beneficial
gas; and so it is, if you limit the dosage.
[2] Viviani, D.J., J. Birks, R. Heede, L. Van Susteren, J.E. Hansen,
Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions, and Climate Protection &
Restoration Initiative, Petition to the Environmental Protection
Agency to Phase-out Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Remove Legacy
GHGs, 16 June 2022. Part I [10] and Part II [11] (Select scientific
and economic considerations).
[3] The promised discussion about the record current planetary
energy imbalance will need to wait a while.
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_Copyright © 2022 Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions. All
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