This announcement will come as the global climate change meeting is getting ready to commence in Copenhagen, Denmark. The United States has taken a number of positive steps recently to demonstrate to both domestic and international observers that America is ready to act on global warming. President Obama recently announced that the US will reduce emissions 17% by 2020. With this new EPA announcement, the Administration appears willing to back that statement up.

Though the EPA will have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, how they would actually administer a program is unclear. The current proposals in Congress use a cap-and-trade framework for reducing emissions. The EPA may choose to use the cap-and-trade model, a carbon tax, or other methods to regulate emissions. Giving the EPA this type of discretion over program creation is troublesome to certain constituencies, thus providing added impetus to pass a comprehensive global warming bill through Congress rather than regulation by EPA.

The US needs to take action to reduce our country’s emissions and the country appears to be well positioned to do so in the near future. With the EPA announcement today, our nation will be one step closer to a clean energy future. Hopefully that helps us in Copenhagen.

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An AP article offers its insights on some of the bugs and bug-a-boos that may be more prevalent as the temperatures rise.

Ticks that transmit Lyme disease are spreading northward into Sweden and Canada, once too cold for them.

Giant Humboldt squid have reached waters as far north as British Columbia, threatening fisheries along much of the western North American coast.

Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are now found in South Korea, the Papua New Guinea highlands, and other places previously not warm enough for them.

Bark beetles reproducing more quickly in warming climates and expanding their ranges have devastated forests across western North America. In British Columbia they have laid waste to an area twice the size of Ireland.

A microscopic parasite is spreading a deadly disease among salmon in Alaska and British Columbia. Researchers say rising water temperatures are partly to blame.

The U.S. government warns that such invasive plants as the common reed, hyacinth and purple loosestrife are likely to spread to northern states.

The big question that arises when you see a list like this is, why?

The answer is that for some species, the changes in temperature, more specifically the extreme cold days in winter, act as a ‘population equalizer.’ With temperatures even a little bit warmer, fewer pests freeze and die naturally, leaving more to reproduce. This is particularly the case with bark beetles in Canada which also reproduce more rapidly in warmer temperatures.

Also, you may not know that poison ivy blooms faster in the presence of increased CO2.

Fight global warming now. Reduce and offset your carbon footprint.

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So what is the solution? Let developing countries continue to pollute, focus on their people and hope that one day they will be able to finally reduce their emissions? Or do developed nations feel an obligation to help the nations that don’t want to choose between economic and social development and reducing emissions?

The nuance to this argument comes from the fact that historically countries with the highest carbon dioxide emissions grew the fastest and were able to offer the best quality of life to their citizens.  Click here to see emissions trends for countries from all over the world and you will see that the prosperous ones, the ones with some of the highest quality of life now, have been spewing thousands if not millions of metric tons of CO2 into the air for a long time. Since CO2 sticks around in the atmosphere for a long time, the increased emissions associated with producing those arguably sweet US cars in the past are probably still in the atmosphere.

Because of these historical emissions from developed nations, groups all over the world, including the World Bank, are asking for the countries that have been most responsible for global warming to take charge of the fight to stop it.

Developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change — a crisis that is not of their making and for which they are the least prepared. For that reason, an equitable deal in Copenhagen is vitally important, said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

The solution that is fleshed out in Copenhagen will hopefully strike a balance between development and the clean energy revolution. But regardless of where the rest of the world stands, those with the means must commit to reducing emissions in a real and enforceable way. We didn’t get to the moon by asking the rest of the world to take an equal stake in the action. We got to the moon through stubborn determination – now our world is richer with a better understanding of the universe and life in general (with a whole slew of useful inventions to boot)! It is time to fight global warming with the same passion that we used to get a man on the moon.

Want something that you can do today to fight global warming and support communities in developing countries? Check out Live Climate, where you can do both with one donation.

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The implications of this discovery are potentially huge. This carbon ’scrubbing’ molecule may be used in industrial processes to remove CO2 from smoke stacks, or it could potentially be used to simply remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

One interesting implication of this discovery is that it demonstrates the power of science and innovation. A big reason that Carbonfund.org is a big supporter of global warming solutions is because that encourages innovation.

Global warming is potentially the greatest crisis that has ever faced mankind, but with great crisis comes great opportunity. Who knows what will happen when we raise fuel standards — maybe we will accidentally discover a way to make cars go significantly farther on a gallon of gas or discover an algae based biofuel that is cheap and clean. Or maybe there will be a break through in solar technology that enables us to turn every roof into a power generating machine.

In short, who knows? If a scientist in Maryland can accidently discover a molecule that eats CO2, anything can happen. Although it’s too early to determine the future outcomes of this. Let’s continue to provide the motivation and impetus to act and innovate.

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“Corn likes it cool, but global warming is raising temperatures across the nation,” said Environment America Global Warming Advocate Timothy Telleen-Lawton. “Hotter fields will mean lower yields for corn, and eventually, the rest of agriculture.”

Many states are expected to lose money for lower corn yields, with Iowa ($259 million in projected losses), Illinois ($243 million in projected losses), and Nebraska ($163 million in projected losses) leading the way.

This report flies in the face of global warming skeptics who claim that warmer temperatures and elevated levels of CO2 will increase crop yields.

But there is one plant that we are pretty sure will flourish with greater levels of CO2 in the atmosphere: poison ivy! So less corn and more poison ivy… that sounds like a bad trade off to me…

Image courtesy of World Community Cookbook.

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