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In 2000, recycling resulted in an annual energy savings of at least 660 trillion BTUs, which equals the amount of energy used in 6 million households annually. In 2005, recycling is conservatively projected to save 900 trillion BTUs, equal to the annual energy use of 9 million households.

What effects do waste prevention and recycling have on global warming?

What materials are most commonly recycled in the United States through collection programs? US recycling rates for commonly recycled consumer goods in 2006 are listed below: Newspapers: 87.9% Corrugated Cardboard Boxes: 72.0% Steel Cans: 62.9% Yard Trimmings: 62.0% Aluminum Beer and Soft Drink Cans: 45.1% Magazines: 40.5% Tires: 34.9% Plastic HDPE Milk and Water Bottles: 31.0% Plastic Soft Drink Bottles: 30.9% Glass Containers: 25.3% EPA's annually updated report, Municipal Solid Waste in the US: 2006 Facts and Figures, describes the national MSW stream based on data collected since 1960. The historical perspective provided is useful for establishing trends in the types of MSW generated and the ways in which it is managed.

In addition to having high global warming potentials, SF6 and PFCs have extremely long atmospheric lifetimes, resulting in their essentially irreversible accumulation in the atmosphere once emitted (see below).

The definition of a GWP for a particular greenhouse gas is the ratio of heat trapped by one unit mass of the greenhouse gas to that of one unit mass of CO2 over a specified time period.

While the most current estimates for GWPs are listed in the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR), EPA analyses use the 100-year GWPs listed in the IPCC's Second Assessment Report (SAR) to be consistent with the international standards under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (IPCC, 1996

Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA brings you a day-long broadcast from the largest teach-in in US history, from the campus of San Francisco State University.

Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA continues its day-long broadcast from the campus of San Francisco State University. Focus the Nation is the largest teach-in in US history.

Thursday, January 31st, 2008KPFA continues its day-long broadcast from the campus of San Francisco State University. Focus the Nation is the largest teach-in in US history

Governor to sign global-warming bill Why Sept. 27, 2006 will be a day to remember Daniel M. Kammen

More important than the target, which is itself dramatic, is the fact that California will establish emission controls on the largest industrial sectors, including utilities, oil refineries and cement manufacturing, and will use market mechanisms -- emissions trading -- to find the economically most-efficient ways to reduce global warming.

AB32, introduced by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, calls for a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions statewide, and a 25 percent reduction by 2020.

Many plants have been the source for medicine that cures disease. Take the rosy periwinkle, which is native to Madigascar. Before its properties were discovered, only 10 percent of children with leukemia lived. But from the plant, scientists created a compound that helped increase the survival rate. "With the compound, the rate has now gone up to 95 percent,” Raven says. “Who knows what else is out there in nature's pharmacy.”

"We will have 10 percent of the world’s seeds by 2010 and we would like to go on and have a quarter of the world’s species by 2020,” says Paul Smith, director of the Millennium Seed Bank Project.

One in six of all wild plants are used for medicine. One in 10 are used for food, especially in developing countries.

Landfilling, the most common waste management practice, results in the release of methane from the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials. Methane is 21 times more potent a GHG than carbon dioxide. However, landfill methane is also a source of energy, and some landfills capture and use it for energy. In addition, many materials in landfills do not decompose fully, and the carbon that remains is sequestered in the landfill and not released into the atmosphere.

The image above illustrates the four main stages of product life-cycles, all of which provide opportunities for GHG emissions and/or offsets. These stages are: raw material acquisition, manufacturing, recycling, and waste management.

Margarita Maria Parra > Senior Program Officer, CCP Global Coordination >

Currently, Margarita is part of the international team and leads new initiatives within the CCP, such as the Local Renewables Network and supporting the development of the HEAT software.

What is happening here is a vision that many in rural America see as their salvation: high-performance moonshine from amber fields of grain, and a “grass station” in every town. It may be a chimera. It may drain precious water from the arid plains and produce less energy that it uses. But it has the undeniable power of an idea in ascendancy.

The vision of a decentralized ethanol industry is taking shape, albeit an industry aided by tax breaks and government mandates. There are now 113 American ethanol plants and an additional 77 under construction, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, the industry trade group. Most of them are right in the middle of the Farm Belt, in counties that have been losing people since the Depression.

Archer Daniels Midland, once the dominant force, is less of a player, controlling about 22 percent of the market. But roughly 40 percent of the new biorefineries are locally owned, representing the sweat and capital of farmers, retired schoolteachers and small-town bankers.

In 2005, the weighted average combined fuel economy of cars and light trucks combined was 19.7 miles per gallon (FHWA 2006).

The average vehicle miles traveled in 2005 was 11,856 miles per year.

The state of California is implementing an even more restrictive standard in 2004, allowing only 0.006 grams per kilometer [0.01 grams per mile] of particulate emissions.

Even if the California standard were introduced worldwide, says Jacobson, diesel cars may still warm the climate more than gasoline cars over 13 to 54 years.

Jacobson says that new particle traps being introduced by some European automobile manufacturers in their diesel cars appear to reduce black carbon emissions to 0.003 grams per kilometer [0.005 grams per mile], even below the California standard.

Despite the US government’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, California, New York and New Jersey embraced carbon trading Tuesday as they joined European governments, Canadian provinces, and New Zealand to launch a forum known as the International Carbon Action Partnership.