by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Currently timely yet often controversial, information on global warming and proposed legislation to curb greenhouse gases was at the heart of discussion during Monday’s Meninak meeting.
Mike Wilson, COO of Jacksonville based ecological consulting firm Environmental Services Inc., gave almost 100 of the civic organization’s members a brief rundown on global climate change then shifted the focus of his presentation to potential “Cap and Trade” carbon emitting policies and what they’d mean to industries.
“I know you’re probably sick of hearing about it,” began Wilson, referring to his brief account of climate change. “It’s constantly in the news and there are conflicting sides of the issue ... it’s a reality and something we need to learn about.”
While a number of factors are leading to an increase in global temperature — both manmade and natural — the effect of greenhouses gases from everything from power plants and deforestation to aviation and livestock methane releases are contributing to the problem.
Enter the potential “Cap and Trade” legislation, which would create “basically a stock market” for carbon trading. Under such a policy, individual industries and companies would have a set limit on how much greenhouse gas they could emit and must purchase credits from companies that don’t meet their emission quotas to compensate for their overages.
While the process is voluntary in the U.S. for now, he said, other countries have already implemented similar programs and policies to help curb their emissions. More policy uniformity across many emission producing countries is needed, Wilson said, to calculate if such policies are effective — greenhouse gases “don’t stay put” over the country that produces them.
The incentive for landowners and industries to not deforest — one of the larger reasons for emissions — and sell their excess credits to companies is feasible, and Wilson noted that on the smaller and local level, seeing results will take time and much investment. As a general rule, 500 acres is a valid starting point, said Wilson, while also giving the example of the company encouraging landowners in their African interests to work together and pool their land instead of working as individuals.
The focus toward Meninak members themselves was to educate them on the whys and hows of the topic and how the small things, such as planting trees, can help in curbing greenhouse emissions.
“The whole idea is to be aware of the changes that are going on around us,” said Wilson. “It’s about changing the way we do things to make a difference.”
The timing of such a discussion couldn’t have been better, said Meninak President Bunky Johnson.
“It was certainly timely because of all the debate in the news and the expectations of the current administration in addressing the topic,” said Johnson. “It was definitely a socially relevant and educational program and it leads to the idea we have here (at Meninak) to ‘think globally, act locally.’”
The next Meninak meeting is Monday with speaker Robbie Smith, executive director of Safe Harbor Boys Home.
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