Prescriptions for Saving the Planet—How to Halt the Catastrophe

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,665771,00.html

12/09/2009 12:08 PM

Prescriptions for Saving the Planet

How to Halt the Catastrophe

By SPIEGEL Staff

To keep the planet's temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, countries must increase their reliance on renewable energies, companies must produce more energy efficient and durable products and consumers must also change their buying behavior.

Editor's note: This week the United National Climate Change Conference began in Copenhagen. World leaders are seeking a common path to limit global warming. Most climate researchers are united in their belief that any increase of the planet's temperature over 2 degrees in the coming years would have disastrous consequences. In the first of a three-part series, SPIEGEL describes what the politicians and citizens of Europe can do to help keep climate change at bay. This is the second installment of a two-part initial story in the series. You can read the first part http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,665685,00.html">here.

It is a bleak, vast landscape, deforested as far as the eye can see, with smoke hanging in the air, smoldering fires everywhere and soil that looks like an open wound. Here, in Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo, begins a food chain that ends up in Germany.

The region is one of the centers of the Indonesian palm oil economy. For Rosenda Chandra Kasih, site coordinator for the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan for the environmental protection organization WWF, the business model is "fail-safe." The proceeds from the sale of lumber produced by felling the area's giant trees are used as seed capital, while the incinerated remains of the forests become fertilizer. Once the forests have been cleared, workers plant endless, militarily precise rows of oil palm seedlings into the charred soil. The first harvest can be brought in after five years. Palm oil, now the world's most popular vegetable oil, is made from the fruits of the trees. Of the 45 million tons placed on the market each year, 10 percent is sold in the European Union.

When they see the words "vegetable oil" printed on the labels of products on German supermarket shelves, most consumers have no idea that there is often a direct and substantial CO2 connection between cookies and cosmetics, cooking oil and prepared foods, shampoos and cream sauces and the destruction of rainforests. A quarter of all worldwide emissions are generated in connection with food production.

The depletion of Indonesian forests is particularly detrimental to the world's climate. In places like Borneo, many rainforests grow in thick layers of peat soil, which contain vast amounts of stored carbon dioxide. When the forests are cleared and the land is drained, the peat releases the carbon dioxide. "Two billion tons of CO2 are generated as a result of the clearing of forests in Indonesia alone, says Kasih, "and the main driving force behind this is the lucrative palm oil business." Two billion tons of CO2 are roughly equivalent to Germany's total greenhouse gas emissions for two years, or about 6 percent of worldwide emissions. Germans consume 13 kilograms (28.6 pounds) of palm oil per capita, which corresponds to 400 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions. This, in turn, is the equivalent of driving 2,500 kilometers.

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[kestrel91316]

1. I calculated my carbon footprint on the LA City website's link, and

in large part because of my car-free status and choice to pay extra for green electric power, my footprint is about 5. Yep, that's all. A typical household my size (1 person) in L.A. has a footprint of 47.

Time for other folks to step up to the plate.

[Lorien]

2. Yet another reason to buy local and cut back on imports of all sorts nt