{"47354":{"#nid":"47354","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Reducing Greenhouse Gases May Not Be Enough to Slow Climate Change","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech City and Regional Planning\nProfessor Brian Stone publishes a paper in the December edition of\nEnvironmental Science and Technology that suggests policymakers need to address\nthe influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in\naddition to greenhouse gas emissions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Stone\u0027s paper, as the\ninternational community meets in Copenhagen in December to develop a new\nframework for responding to climate change, policymakers need to give serious\nconsideration to broadening the range of management strategies beyond\ngreenhouse gas reductions alone.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Across the U.S. as a whole,\napproximately 50 percent of the warming that has occurred since 1950 is due to\nland use changes (usually in the form of clearing forest for crops or cities)\nrather than to the emission of greenhouse gases,\u0022 said Stone.\u0026nbsp; \u0022Most large\nU.S. cities, including Atlanta, are warming at more than twice the rate of the\nplanet as a whole \u0026mdash; a rate that is mostly attributable to land use\nchange.\u0026nbsp; As a result, emissions reduction programs \u0026mdash; like the cap and\ntrade program under consideration by the U.S. Congress \u0026mdash; may not sufficiently\nslow climate change in large cities where most people live and where land use\nchange is the dominant driver of warming.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Stone\u0027s research, slowing\nthe rate of forest loss around the world, and regenerating forests where lost,\ncould significantly slow the pace of global warming.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Treaty negotiators should formally\nrecognize land use change as a key driver of warming,\u0022 said Stone.\u0026nbsp; \u0022The\nrole of land use in global warming is the most important climate-related story\nthat has not been widely covered in the media.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EStone recommends slowing what he terms\nthe \u0022green loss effect\u0022 through the planting of millions of trees in urbanized\nareas and through the protection and regeneration of global forests outside of\nurbanized regions.\u0026nbsp; Forested areas provide the combined benefits of\ndirectly cooling the atmosphere and of absorbing greenhouse gases, leading to\nadditional cooling.\u0026nbsp; Green architecture in cities, including green roofs\nand more highly reflective construction materials, would further contribute to\na slowing of warming rates.\u0026nbsp; Stone envisions local and state governments\ntaking the lead in addressing the land use drivers of climate change, while the\nfederal government takes the lead in implementing carbon reduction initiatives,\nlike cap and trade programs.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022As we look to address the climate\nchange issue from a land use perspective, there is a huge opportunity for local\nand state governments,\u0022 said Stone.\u0026nbsp; \u0022Presently, local government capacity\nis largely unharnessed in climate management structures under consideration by\nthe U.S. Congress.\u0026nbsp; Yet local governments possess extensive powers to\nmanage the land use activities in both the urban and rural areas.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Environmental Science and\nTechnology article is available at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/journal\/esthag\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/journal\/esthag\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Because land use changes are responsible for 50 percent of warming in the U.S., policymakers need to address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions, said Georgia Tech City and Regional Planning Professor Brian Stone.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Land use changes are responsible for 50 percent of warming in the U.S."}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2009-11-09 15:25:23","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:45","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2009-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2009-11-10T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1349","name":"Brian Stone"},{"id":"5027","name":"city planning"},{"id":"831","name":"climate change"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}