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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 5, NUMBER 4, APRIL 1992

REPORTS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d92apr56

Trading Entitlements to Control Carbon Emissions: A Practical Way to Combat Global Warming, Jan. 1992. Contact Frank Joshua, U.N. Conf. on Trade and Devel. (UNCTAD) Secretariat, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switz. (tel: +41-22-734-6011; fax: +41-22-733-6542).

Developed by a panel of experts in the U.S. and Europe, this scheme allocates entitlements for specific amounts of CO₂ emissions to each country, then allows free international trade of entitlements, similar to the sulfur dioxide emission trading plan of the U.S. Clean Air Act. Discusses economic advantages, benefits to developing countries, and application of the plan. (See Energy, Econ. & Clim. Change, p. 15, Feb. 1992.)

Item #d92apr57

Controlling Greenhouse Gases: What the Global Warming Treaty Will Mean to You, Feb. 1992. Introductory price of $76 includes a 70-page update of the 1990 IPCC scientific assessment, and a forthcoming summary from the June Earth Summit. Doc. Editor, Inside EPA, POB 7167, Ben Franklin Sta., Washington DC 20044 (800-424-9068, or 703-892-8500).

Assembled by the editors of Inside EPA to prepare businesses for the treaty that may emerge from the June Earth Summit. Contains a large amount of background information, and a summary and bibliography of key reports.

Item #d92apr58

Back from the Brink: Greenhouse Gas Targets for a Sustainable World, J. Karas, 37 pp., Feb. 1992, £6. Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood St., London N1 7JQ, UK (tel: 071-490-1555).

Released just prior to the Feb. 1992 climate treaty negotiations, this report concludes that to keep climate change within tolerable bounds, global cuts in CO₂ emissions of 20-35% of 1990 levels are necessary, with deeper cuts thereafter. Cuts of 25-50% by the year 2005 may be required from industrialized countries. Other targets specified include a reversal of forest loss by the year 2000, and 30% cuts in emissions of carbon monoxide by the year 2005.

Item #d92apr59

The Regions and Global Warming: Impacts and Response Strategies, 24 pp., July 1991. Ctr. for Growth Studies, Houston Adv. Res. Ctr. (HARC), The Woodlands TX 77381 (713-363-7913).

This statement, from a March 1991 conference cosponsored by several international organizations, reviews impacts on various sectors, and emphasizes that any internationally determined response strategies will necessarily be carried out largely at the regional, national and local levels. There is a danger, however, that regionalism could drive a wedge between groups with divergent interests; ways of avoiding this divisiveness are discussed. The regional concerns unique to developing countries are considered. (A proceedings volume will be published this year.)

Item #d92apr60

Saving Our Skins: The Causes and Consequences of Ozone Layer Depletion and Policies for Its Restoration and Protection, A. Makhijani, K. Gurney, A. Makhijani, 42 pp., Feb. 1992. Inst. for Energy & Environ. Res., 6935 Laurel Ave., Takoma Pk. MD 20912 (301-270-5500), or Wilhelm-Blum-Str. 12-14, 6900 Heidelberg, Ger. (tel: 011-49-6221-47670).

Condenses the findings and recommendations of a three-year project, supported by private sources. The first part presents findings on several issues in need of solutions, such as the severe health, economic and environmental consequences possible from ozone depletion, and problems with presently allowed Third World use of CFCs. The second part describes three future scenarios corresponding to the first and second versions of the Montreal Protocol, and a scenario corresponding to the 14 specific recommendations made at the end of the report. If followed, they would mean that ozone depletion would end about 15 to 20 years earlier than under the accelerated Protocol.

Item #d92apr61

Soot in the Stratosphere: The Impact of Current and HSCT Aircraft Emissions, A.D.A. Hansen (Lawrence Berkeley Lab., Berkeley, Calif.), R.F. Pueschel, K.G. Snetsinger, 17 pp., Aug. 1991. NTIS: DE92-000686; $17.

Soot, emitted into the stratosphere or troposphere, strongly absorbs visible and infrared radiation, may act as condensation nuclei, and may provide large surface area for catalysis of gas-phase chemical reactions. Discusses emissions from existing and proposed aircraft and implications for stratospheric physics and chemistry.

Item #d92apr62

Communicating Cumulative Long-Term Risks (ER-9110), R.J. Bord, R.E. O'Connor, D.J. Epp, Oct. 1991, $5. Order from Environ. Resour. Res. Inst., Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Pk. PA 16802.

Public attitudes toward global warming and hazardous waste sites were surveyed and respondents were sent informational brochures. A second survey evaluated the effect of the additional information on attitudes toward these cumulative, uncertain and long-term environmental risks. Over 70 percent of the global warming sample initially judged the problem extremely or somewhat serious, but the informational brochures had a substantial impact on opinions, leading the authors to conclude that relatively simple communication either raises or lowers the perception of risk.

Item #d92apr63

Setting Priorities for Space Research--Opportunities and Imperatives, U.S. Nat. Res. Council Task Group on Priorities in Space Research, 63 pp., 1992. No charge from Space Studies Board, Nat. Acad. Sci., 2101 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington DC 20418 (202-334-3477).

Argues that scientists and the nation must create an orderly agenda for scientific research in space, based on clearly defined objectives, to ensure that it flourishes and contributes to the national welfare and public vitality. Among the space projects discussed are those for monitoring global environmental changes such as the Earth Observing System and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.