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I own a smart fortwo. I've got a 170km commute each day, about 110 mins of secondary highway driving and 40 mins of city driving.

I can get 60 US MPG with minimal effort. When fuel prices (smart takes diesel) start creeping upward I start driving a bit more cautiously and I've yielded tanks over 70 US MPG.

There's a guy here in Canada who yielded almost 85 US MPG.

Back to emissions, in Canada there was a government funded program called the One Tonne Challenge. Challenging Canadians to reduce their greenhouse emissions by one tonne. There was a calculator where you could calculate your current emissions and your reductions.

In the above calculator I input the information from my last vehicle and my current vehicle and I'm saving almost 16 tonnes of GHG/year in my smart. I'm happier about that than I am about the $300+ I am saving on fuel/month.

Since I don't actually have all day to reply, here is a quick selection of 'reputable' links and a few recent (05) peer-reviewed journal article abstracts concerning global warming.

I wasn't implying that you should take MY word for it...just that I have experience in this topic and that my (informed) opinion is that GW is underway. Denying global warming is about as futile as denying evolution (I'm also a paleontologist). As I mentioned in the previous post, however, the causes of global warming are still up in the air (although I personally suspect that greenhouse gas emissions play a role in accelerating warming). Of course Fairbanks (Nature 342/89) demonstrated that there was a two meter per century rise in sea level around 14000 years ago, so rapid change can occur even without human influence.

Here are a few references:

Fairbanks, R.G., 1989, A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record; influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation: Nature, v. 342, no. 6250, p. 637-642.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Aerosols/
http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/research/coral-bleach ing/scr2000/scr-00gcrmn-report.html
http://www4.nas.edu/onpi/webextra.nsf/44bf87db3095 63a0852566f2006d63bb/e4dcc6e935831fc885256a8400588 146?OpenDocument
http://climatechange.gc.ca/english/default.asp
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From: Analysis of mean, maximum, and minimum temperature in Athens from 1897 to 2001 with emphasis on the last decade, trends, warm events, and cold events, Extreme climatic events

The 105-year (1897-2001) surface air temperature record of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) has been analyzed to determine indications of significant deviations from long-term average features in the city of Athens. The analysis of the whole record reveals a tendency towards warmer years, with significantly warmer summer and spring periods and slightly warmer winters (an increase of 1.23 and 0.34 degrees C has been observed in the mean summer and mean winter temperature, respectively). The tendency is more pronounced for the summer and spring maximum temperature, but marginal for the minimum temperature of the cold season. On a monthly basis, a statistically significant (at the 95th confidence level) warming trend has been observed in the average maximum temperature of May and June. The trend analysis for the last decade of the record (1992-2001) revealed a significant increase for both warm and cold seasons, yet maximum and minimum temperature. Extreme temperatures (high/low temperatures above/below a certain threshold value) and extreme events (prolonged extreme temperatures) have also been studied. The number of hot days as well as the frequency of occurrence and duration of warm events have significantly increased during the last decade, while a negative trend is observed in the frequency of low temperatures and the duration of cold events especially after 1960.
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From: Recent trends from Canadian permafrost thermal monitoring network sites, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, vol.16, no.1, pp.19-30, Mar 2005

The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), in collaboration with other government partners, has been developing and maintaining a network of active-layer and permafrost thermal monitoring sites which contribute to the Canadian Permafrost Monitoring Network and the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost. Recent results from the thermal monitoring sites maintained by the GSC and other federal government agencies are presented. These results indicate that the response of permafrost temperature to rec

For americans who want to make a difference:
http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/english/

Use the Greenhouse Gas Calculator. Unfortunately you don't qualify for any of the rebate programs listed.

Anyone else read this as a deal to exchange older appliances in exchange for cash towards a new hybrid? Well, maybe just me... :)

In any event, I'm not sure how this is news: the Canadian government long ago introduced the 1-tonne challenge, and apparantely we receive tax breaks for buying a hybrid.

Other than the facts provided in the article, how is this 'promotion' any different from what many other countries are doing already?

... tried the same thing with the "One-Tonne-Challenge" http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/english/in dex.asp. The results? A lot of angry fatties.

Take the One Tonne Challenge.

link

It's focused on gas emissions, but most of the suggestions are about reducting the energy we use. There is a nice GHG calculator to get an idea were you are starting from.

Actually Canada has already started a campaign to reduce pollution. It's called the One Tonne Challenge and challenges all members of society to reduce their pollution by 1 Tonne! If you are going to try and signal out Canada and Japan at least be accurate.. maybe you should double check your information on Japan?

I'm in Halifax now, and getting sick of this series of storms we've been having.

There's a few things we can do. All Canadians by now have probably heard of the one-ton challenge- even Rick Mercer's helping promote it.

For a bit more comprehensive fare, you can try David Suzuki's solutions.

Political pressure helps, but right now market solutions are probably the easiest way to deal with the crisis. If you have the means to install solar panels or can invest in renewables, go for it.

The most cost-effective and elegant solutions are conservation oriented. Compact fluorescent light-bulbs, LCD rather than CRT monitors, etc... Hybrid or other efficient cars are better than conventional, mass transit beats any car, and changing lifestyles and city planning to reduce the trips we need to make is most elegant.

Energy use estimates have been wildly inaccurate in the past as we got more efficient in using it. At the same time, better tech is getting cheaper as more people buy it and it reaches commodity status. Buying compact fluorescent bulbs 10 years ago didn't just save the energy of that bulb, it helped set in motion a market dynamic that has made them 4 to 5 times cheaper today, and more widely available. Same with LCDs... we as techies can be advocates for this and emerging technology- stuff that meets the same or more needs with less energy.

Industry is not the only cause of greenhouse gas., individuals also cause emissions through cars and *gasp* electricity! In North American we consume a large amount as individuals (significantly more than outside of NA). Take a look at http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/onetonne/english/ a recent campaign by the Canadian Government to lower emissions. It has a calculator which will can give you a rough idea how much we as individuals cause.

Kyoto was not designed to hurt the US Economy, that BS was spin to justify to the population not signing.

At least not without dooming your children to a world of one massive natural disastor to another. Global climate change is real, it's already happening, and we need to faze out "fossil fuels" now.

CDN government .. impacts

Floods, droughts, massive crop failures.... the list even includes the possibility of another ice age within a few decades. It's not worth the risk.

CDN government.. understanding

This is recognized by most scientists, who have even managed to convince a lot of national governments to sign agreements commiting to a policy of reduced fossil fuel use. Unfortunatly, none of them are doing anything to follow through, so it was all just talk to appease a few iconoclastic environmentalists.

A couple more links:

West Coast Environmental Law

International Red Cross

David Suzuki Foundation

At least not without dooming your children to a world of one massive natural disastor to another. Global climate change is real, it's already happening, and we need to faze out "fossil fuels" now.

CDN government .. impacts

Floods, droughts, massive crop failures.... the list even includes the possibility of another ice age within a few decades. It's not worth the risk.

CDN government.. understanding

This is recognized by most scientists, who have even managed to convince a lot of national governments to sign agreements commiting to a policy of reduced fossil fuel use. Unfortunatly, none of them are doing anything to follow through, so it was all just talk to appease a few iconoclastic environmentalists.

A couple more links:

West Coast Environmental Law

International Red Cross

David Suzuki Foundation