SustainableGrowthinaLow-CarbonEconomy.pptVIP

Sustainable Growth in a Low-Carbon Economy Presentation for Law Seminars International – Charlotte, North Carolina Larry Ostema, Green Initiatives Group Practice Head, LEED? AP November 14, 2008 Sex, politics, religion and climate change… “Climate Change” makes people uncomfortable It is perceived as a “liberal” agenda The media does not portray the facts People perceive the science is hard to understand and very uncertain It may require people to change consumption habits …but Wall Street and Silicon Valley love it Cleantech is the 4th largest venture capital sector Banks are heavily investing in renewables Bank of America planning $20 billion green initiative All major investment banks and many private companies launching or growing carbon credit generation or trading groups Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change What the IPCC is not: A research organization A platform for cutting edge scientific opinion What the IPCC is: A scientific body of the UN and World Meteorological Organization About 2,500 scientists What it does: Peer review of climate change studies Compiles the mean consensus of opinion What the mean means is… for every member scientist who believes aspects of the IPCC’s consensus reports are too extreme, IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report - Findings Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. Al Gore’s (in)famous slide Consensus IPCC forecast By 2100: 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit global temperature increase Global sea level rise of 0.8 to 1.8 feet Bleaching of coral reefs 30% of existing insect, animal and plant species will be extinct Ed Mazria and architecture2030.org Sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions Some officials are starting to act His crusade We have a duty and a right to respond to every environmental impact report. If you don’t talk about greenhouse gases, we are goin