Jargon Watch
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The energy that has to replace the burning of fossil fuels, because we have no alternative, now that global warming is upon us.
Also referred to as clean energy, because it is untainted by petro-politics, and as renewable energy, because you never run out of it (and so never have to fight wars over it.)
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As Mr. Portokalos says in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, "Give me any word, and I show you the root of that word is Greek." He can even do it with "kimono", so anthropogenic -- close cousin of anthropology -- should be easy for us. It means "caused by human activity."
In relation to global warming, anthropogenic emissions are the gases, most notably carbon dioxide, that we humans have pumped into the air, especially over the last 150 years of modern industrial life, without giving it a thought, as if the atmosphere has the limitless capacity to absorb our waste. It doesn't.
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Here's what the Competitive Enterprise Institute had to say about it in their ad campaign:
"Carbon Dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life."
It was probably one of the most ridiculed ad campaigns of recent memory. Last word has to go to Rafael Baptista, who posted this comment on Gristmill.
"How about you make a campaign called 'Uric Acid. They call it urine. We call it lemonade.'"
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Think of a dormant volcano. It's got a cap on it.
An emissions cap is a similar idea. It's a legally binding mandate that puts a lid on greenhouse gas emissions, and slowly lowers it over time.
The science clearly tells us where to put the lid, what the maximum amount of allowable emissions should be. Science describes this point in many different ways, but the easiest formulation is this:
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2% every year.
Otherwise, like a volcano, the climate will erupt in unpredictable fury.
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Long before treehuggers roamed the Earth, the greenhouse effect was scientifically investigated and confirmed.
First discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1829, the greenhouse effect works by reducing the amount of heat the planet loses to the cold of outer space. It's a good thing. It is what makes life on Earth possible. Without it, the surface of the planet would be as much as 30 degrees centigrade -- or more than 80 degrees fahrenheit -- colder.
