The Millenium Development Goals, agreed to by every member country of the United Nations in 2000, call for the worldwide eradication of poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality and huge improvements in health by 2015: two years ago!!
Can we do this without making the planet warmer?
Let's think big and imagine how we can confront the climate crisis in a way that is realistic about the other major problems that we face as a planet and as a species on it.
Clean Development >
Carbon Neutrality in Costa Rica
Costa Rica has done a great job of becoming an eco-conscious country, and plans to be completely carbon-neutral by the year 2021. With beautiful rainforests and tourism, deforestation is a major issue facing the country. There are laws put in place that prevent people from negatively impacting their environment. For example, if a tree falls in your backyard, you have to have an official come and tell you if it is safe to move it or not. Although it's extreme, that is how the Costa Ricans will accomplish their mission. To achieve full carbon neutrality, more trees are being planted and less carbon is being used. Hopefully there will be a domino effect, so that other countries will also achieve this goal.
I agree that this is a great approach to Carbon Neutrality. If soon there is somewhat of a "domino effect" I think it will be a large step towards creating a legitimately sustainable planet for ourselves. Costa Rica has it right.
If achieving carbon-neutrality will lead to protecting more rainforests, this will help the magnitude of species found in the country. Costa Rica is a tiny country in terms of landmass, but it has 6% of the world's biodiversity (http://www.costarica-embassy.org/?q=node/12), which means that it's essential that the country's ecosystem is protected. This is a really important goal that they're moving towards and hopefully other countries will follow them.