Not that you may have noticed (though, fortunately, Grist did), but the Environmental Protection Agency released its latest Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks on the day after Easter, and I guess it was a long holiday weekend in US newsrooms because no one seems to have picked it up. In the EPA's press release, cut through the zippy quote, "The Bush Administration has an unparalleled financial, international and domestic commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," to get to the heart of the matter: "Overall, greenhouse gas emissions during 2004 increased by 1.7 percent from the previous year."
That's the equivalent of an increase of 110 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to the followup in The Independent of London (if that link goes behind a paywall, try this one).
This is the biggest annual increase since 2000 and means that in 2004 -- the latest year that full data is available -- the US released the equivalent of nearly 6,300 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
It also counts as "more greenhouse gases in 2004 than at any time in history, confirming [the United States'] status as the world's biggest polluter," the Indy reports. The Brits are not at all happy about the situation. "The US and the UK are the two leading scientific nations in the world and are home to some of the best climate researchers," David Read, biological secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society, tells the Indy. "But in terms of fulfilling the commitment made by their signature to the UN convention to stabilise greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, neither country is demonstrating leadership by reducing their emissions to the levels required." The British biologist/ecologist (professor of plant sciences in the University of Sheffield) was quoted even more extensively by the Environmental News Service.
Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising rapidly.... They are now about a third higher than they were before the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, and probably higher than they have been for at least 10 million years. If we were to stabilize carbon dioxide levels at twice pre-industrial levels, countries like the UK and U.S. would need to reduce emissions by about 60 percent by the middle of this century." ....
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the global average temperature in 2005 was the second highest since records began in 1861. Eight of the 10 warmest years have occurred since 1995. The scientific evidence suggests that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will cause temperatures to rise further, causing a range of climate effects and making our oceans more acidic."
There is already evidence that suggests we are seeing some of those climate effects, such as a study by U.S. researchers last year that linked a drop in annual rainfall in East Africa with rising surface water temperatures in the Indian Ocean.
If emissions continue to rise, we can expect even more impacts across the world.