Save and Conserve

BBC News is reporting that carbon emissions are rising faster than ever before. Quotes:

Emissions were rising by less than 1% annually up to the year 2000, but are now rising at 2.5% per year [from 2000 to 2005].

7.9 billion tonnes (gigatonnes, Gt) of carbon passed into the atmosphere last year [2005]. In 2000, the figure was 6.8Gt.

Why are CO2 emissions rising so quickly?

From about 1970 the intensity [of fossil fuel use] decreased - we became more efficient at using energy - but we've been getting slightly worse since the year 2000.

In other words, we have been energy hogs. But wait, there's more:

The other trend is that as oil becomes more expensive, we're seeing a switch from oil burning to charcoal which is more polluting in terms of carbon.

I wrote about the increased use of coal recently. The US is the "Saudi Arabia of coal". We're going to be burning lots of coal for a really long time. If people don't wake up soon to this problem and start demanding responsible restrictions on use of coal (such as mandating clean coal technology for all new power plants), energy companies and power plants will have no reason to not keep burning more and more coal and dumping the entire load of CO2 into the atmosphere. Until the people wake up, politicians will not be compelled to pass these types of laws.

It's a sad state of affairs in many respects. We have all sorts of data points telling us we need to change course and we can't seem to figure out how to make the change happen. The politicians only think ahead as far as the next election. The people are so apathetic and disengaged and selfish that only a major hardship will wake them up. If we're not already too late to help this climate change situation, we will be very soon.

I wrote last week about how I was rooting for a quick onset of peak oil. I must now amend that. I am now rooting for a quick onset of peak oil plus a shortage event that wakes people up once and for all. Energy depletion and CO2 are the two big issues of the next 15 years, in my opinion. The sooner the people realize this, the better we'll all be in 30 years.