WILD

New Bill for Carbon-Caps, but not Protecting Wild-Nature

As you’ve likely heard, the US House of Representatives passed the first comprehensive climate and energy bill last week. The “American Clean Energy and Security Act” shows that the US is setting up to the climate change plate, as are many countries in preparation for December’s UNFCCC summit in Copenhagen. The bill now moves to the Senate, and then onto President Obama’s desk.

In a nut shell, it is a cap-and-trade bill, but has some mention of preventing deforestation as methods to reduce carbon emissions. The bill mandates that 15% of US electricity come from renewable sources (wind, solar, etc) by 2020.  The plan sets provisions for smart grids, energy savings for industries, appliances and buildings, investments in clean energy technologies…but relatively no mention about stopping the destruction of wild-nature (responsible for 20-25% of all greenhouse gas emissions).  While renewable energy, emissions capping and the like are extremely important – when will our leaders pay attention to the mass amounts of carbon released from destroying wild-nature?  If we’re only talking about solar panels and wind-turbines, are we missing the easiest answer?  Protecting wild-nature can drastically reduce emissions with very minimal impacts on the tax-payer!

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