CFE agenda 050916 - Laserfiche WebLink

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IIII ° ° °II IIII S C III IIII III 4 C IIII i s "" r II ° ° °II IIII IIII° IIII , "" r II ° ° °II IIII N U ll III (IIII IIII IIII: "� IC'; IIIC'; � � IIII ° °� , "" IIII ° ° °II III "� III "� �J �J IIIC'; (1, ) A 1:13 II,,,, Drew Shindell is a man on a mission. Since 2011, he's been leading the charge to promote a new, more winnable approach to fighting the war against climate change. In a series of landmark studies and assessment reports, he's shown that by aggressively curbing emissions of methane, black carbon and other potent short -lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) in addition to much longer -lived carbon dioxide, we could slow the rate of global warming by half over the next several decades and save 45 million lives. "Short -lived climate pollutants are the low- hanging fruit of the climate world. They remain in the atmosphere for only a brief time but account for as much as 30 to 40 percent of the total short - term rise in global temperatures," says Shindell, who joined the Nicholas School faculty as professor of climate sciences in 2014. Expanding our mitigation strategies to target these short -lived drivers of global warming makes sense economically, politically and in terms of human health, he says. Air pollution linked to SLCPs is the leading environmental cause of premature death. Reducing our exposure to these pollutants, particularly soot and other particles, would annually save up to seven million lives worldwide and improve respiratory and cardiovascular health for tens of millions of people. It would prevent 180,000 non -fatal heart attacks, 18 million missed work days and 11 million missed school days in the United States alone. Curbing emissions that lead to tropospheric ozone, another potent SLOP, would boost agricultural economies and enhance food security for millions of people by increasing global crop yields by about 1 billion metric tons a year. These gains could send skeptics and vacillating world leaders a message that meaningful progress is possible, and perhaps set an example that helps us tackle more persistent carbon dioxide. Many of the technologies and tools needed to reduce SLOP emissions already exist or could be developed and scaled up for widespread use at a fairly modest cost, Shindell stresses. Emissions of black carbon, or soot, can be reduced through measures as simple as installing filters on diesel engines, replacing inefficient cookstoves, and banning the open burning of agricultural waste. Methane can be reduced through retrofits or upgrades to existing emissions - control technologies where most leaks occur: oil and gas wells, leaky pipelines, municipal landfills and wastewater treatment plants. Many of these actions pay for themselves, as the captured methane can be used for energy.