DeclinetoState
04-11-2007, 07:55 AM
NEW YORK - New York City produces nearly 1 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions — an amount that puts it on par with Ireland or Portugal — according to a city study.
The study, released Tuesday, was ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to assess the city's progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. It was conducted by the mayor's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability.
"You have to have a real baseline or we're just talking past each other as to what works and what doesn't work — we won't ever know whether we really made a difference," Bloomberg said.
The study found that the buildings, subways, buses, cars and decomposition of waste in America's most populous city produced a net emission of 58.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2005. The report said the city's emissions "are currently as much as those of Ireland or Portugal."
The U.S. total was 7.26 billion metric tons for that year.
More (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070411/ap_on_sc/carbon_count;_ylt=Ah0V04tjdRieQZ0rEH2A5ynMWM0F)
Ireland has a population of just 4,062,235.
Portugal has a population of about 10,566,212.
New York City has a population of about 8,213,839.
If these figures are accurate, on a per-capita basis, New York isn't doing too badly. If one further notes that a couple of million more people probably work, but do not live, in the Big Apple, it's pollution output probably compares quite favorably to Portugal, where I doubt that millions of people commute into the country every day.
The study, released Tuesday, was ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to assess the city's progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. It was conducted by the mayor's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability.
"You have to have a real baseline or we're just talking past each other as to what works and what doesn't work — we won't ever know whether we really made a difference," Bloomberg said.
The study found that the buildings, subways, buses, cars and decomposition of waste in America's most populous city produced a net emission of 58.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2005. The report said the city's emissions "are currently as much as those of Ireland or Portugal."
The U.S. total was 7.26 billion metric tons for that year.
More (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070411/ap_on_sc/carbon_count;_ylt=Ah0V04tjdRieQZ0rEH2A5ynMWM0F)
Ireland has a population of just 4,062,235.
Portugal has a population of about 10,566,212.
New York City has a population of about 8,213,839.
If these figures are accurate, on a per-capita basis, New York isn't doing too badly. If one further notes that a couple of million more people probably work, but do not live, in the Big Apple, it's pollution output probably compares quite favorably to Portugal, where I doubt that millions of people commute into the country every day.