Carlson said the issue is almost akin to the current economic crisis: “What has occurred to me is we spent way beyond our means, and the same thing is true with global warming: we used the capital of the Earth, we used it almost all up” by using harmful energy sources.Twenty to 30 percent of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere are emitted “from our homes, and much comes from cars and airplanes, the biggest sources. We have to realize the resources of the earth have to be protected... we really must,” said Carlson, “make a turnaround” to benefit the planet.The subject of global warming is a depressing one: “People do not like to deal with something like this, but it only takes one degree of global warming” to melt glaciers and ice caps, “creating situations where there won’t be adequate water” and water will become “an even more precious commodity.” Global warming, said Carlson, is “an evolutionary process that will occur over time and people must not dismiss it as a minor problem.”Carlson is attending a Washington, D.C. conference, “Get Set, Get Ready” co-sponsored by the USLWV and OXFAM that will focus on global warming impacts on Third World countries, particularly women who, to provide for families, must spend much time just obtaining water. Any future legislation, said Carlson, “must not forget those people who do not have a spokesperson.”
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Catherine Gautier, Ph.D., former associate director/research meteorologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD and now a UC Santa Barbara professor of Geography, Earth System Science/Global Warming answer a question during the Global Warming Conference held last Saturday in Santa Paula. |
Global Warming Conference offers education, energy saving ideas
May 01, 2009
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesMore than 70 people with an eye on the environment and concerns for what global warming is doing to Earth attended a conference Saturday to become educated on the issue and find out what they can be done locally to help globally.The Global Climate Change Forum, moderated by Santa Paula Union High School District Superintendent Dr. David Gomez and held at the Community Center, was co-sponsored by the United States League of Women Voters (USLWV), the Santa Paula LWV chapter, the American branch of international OXFAM - a relief and development organization that focuses on the elimination of poverty, hunger and injustice - and the City of Santa Paula.Organized by Joyce Carlson, the conference featured various speakers who tackled a wide range of issues, including cause and impacts of global warming, green building, and wallet-friendly programs and projects that can help Earth. “It was a pretty good turnout,” and Carlson said attendees found the conference “very worthwhile.”The main purpose of the forum that Carlson said was “fulfilled” was to help people better understand the science of global warming, and speaker Catherine Gautier, Ph.D., former associate director/research meteorologist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD and now a UC Santa Barbara professor of Geography, Earth System Science/Global Warming. “laid it out very, very clearly. She explained the causes and what we need to do.”But, noted Carlson, “It’s almost depressing because the facts are so ominous. That’s why I think in a lot of ways we have to balance what we do that are not only a cost benefit - they move toward energy efficiency, which at the same time can become the basis of a green economy.”Donald R. Price of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District offered information on reducing energy consumption to lessen impacts on global warming, simple tips for saving energy, and outlined many money-saving rebate programs. Kara Davis, an architect with Main Street Architects of Ventura, president of the California Chapter of the UC Green Building Council and a member of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), addressed green building techniques to make both homes and businesses become more energy efficient.
