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The IPCC, stated NBC's Anne Thompson, "left no doubt that man is responsible for global warming. The debate now is over how much the climate will change if nothing is done." ABC had Bill Blakemore explain the latest approach to reducing greenhouse gases: if humans cut carbon emissions by 7bn tons each year, the climate will be stabilized by the year 2050; no single technology is capable of absorbing 7bn tons of carbon annually but scientists have isolated 15 separate techniques--"most would carry some cost"--each of which is capable of taking care of one billion. Deploy seven of the 15 as soon as possible and the task is done. Some of Blakemore's 15 include a doubling of automobile fuel efficiency, a fiftyfold increase in wind-generation of electricity, converting coal-powered generators to natural gas, expansion of the nuclear power industry and storing carbon emissions from coal back in the ground.
NBC's series America Goes Green examined whether environmental activism has staying power. Lee Cowan recalled the late '70s when being green "conjured up ponytails and Birkenstocks, Greenpeace and handcuffs" and contrasted that hippy image with hipper contemporary hybrid vehicles, efficient light bulbs, household recycling and styrofoamfree restaurant doggy bags. Yet "we still have a long way to go," Cowan warned. Sports Utility Vehicles, for example, outsell hybrids by a ratio of 20-to-1.
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