Is Laguna Beach City Council Pandering on Global Warming

At the beginning of this year, the City Council adopted the United States Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and is dedicated to reduce Laguna Beach greenhouse gas emissions by 7% from the 1990 levels by 2012. I was the only person addressing the City Council arguing against signing on to the Agreement. I noted that I could not reconcile the Council building a large automobile parking structure while committing Laguna Beach to the reduction of greenhouse emissions.

It would be upsetting if the unanimous vote was just posturing and that it was not a serious vote. If serious, a couple things that the City Council could do immediately would be 1) disseminate information on how far currently we are from the 1990 level, 2) prohibit the burning of wood in Laguna Beach, and 3) require that City facilities air conditioning be set no lower than 82 degrees.

Of course one cannot reduce Laguna Beach greenhouse gas emissions by 7% from the 1990 level unless we know what were the City’s emissions in 1990. I have asked that the question be answered: what were the City’s emissions in 1990?

Regarding the City Council acting now to outlaw the burning of wood in Laguna Beach, former Vice-President Albert Gore Jr.’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” tells us that 30% of CO2 emissions come the from the burning of wood. While this is primarily poor people burning wood to heat their homes and cook their food, the burning of wood in Laguna Beach is basically just for amusement and should be prohibited.

During this summer, the three largest banks in Japan saved energy on air conditioning by mandating that the lowest temperature for air conditioning be 82 degrees. The City Council can very quickly set a positive example by mandating the same for all City of Laguna Beach facilities.

I think concerns about global warming are hyperbole, but I would support these efforts since many of my friends are seriously concerned.