Carbon Dioxide Concentration:
Scientists consider the main cause of climate change and rising sea level is
the continued increase to Co2 emissions. In an effort to reduce Co2 emissions,
measures are being taken to cut energy consumption and to use more energy from
renewable sources.
The Netherlands began emitting significant amounts of Co2
in about 1965. This trend followed the liquids trend almost exactly (just about
20 years later.) In 1980 was the highest year of emission estimates reaching
over 3 1/2 metric tons of carbon.
There are unusual results because Netherlands is a low-lying
country; therefore, it is subject to extreme consequences in weather such as
peak rainfall and rising sea-level. The river dikes and coastal defenses are
constantly being strengthened and improved to prevent flooding. The Netherlands
is committed to tackling climate issues on a global scale. The Netherlands did
not begin emitting amounts of Co2 until the late 1960's. The highest peak of
Co2 emissions in the Netherlands was from 1970-1980 reaching almost 4 metric
tons of carbon.
During this time, the post-war years were a time of hardship,
shortages, and natural disaster for the Netherlands. This was followed by
large-scale public works programs, economy recovery, European integration, and
the gradual introduction of a welfare state. In addition, the Netherlands
suffered a major flood in 1953 which took more than 30 years to reconstruct.
This is the time when the Netherlands began to emit Co2 emissions. Further, the
government encouraged emigration efforts to reduce population density to
promote nearly 500,000 Dutch people to leave the country. In result, the
Netherlands' contribution to climate change is less affecting than most other
countries.
Looking at the below graph, you can see that the Netherlands
is ranked 5th in total Co2 emissions emitting 2.8 metric tons in 2010. By
comparing this to the United Sates, the Netherlands are 1.68% lower per capita.
One major reason for the United States having a much higher capita is due to a
much higher population. The Netherlands' rank based on per capita Co2 emissions
is 2.99 metric tons of carbon while the United States' rank is 4.71 metric tons
of carbon. The United States almost doubles the Netherlands. This is sad for
the United States (where I live) as we are contributing so much to climate
change. However, this is pretty good for the Netherlands! Although they do not
have as high of a population as the United States, they are taking action in
preventing climate change. However, their small amount of contribution is still
increasing.
Total Fossil Fuel Emissions:
Climate change is one of the major environmental issues for
the coming years, both regionally and globally. The Netherlands are expected to
face climate change impacts on all land use related sectors and on water
management, and therefore on spatial planning in general.
By comparing the Netherlands to the other countries listed
in the graph, it is ranked 2nd to lowest, just above Kenya. The United States
and China are ranked the highest in total fossil fuel emissions. The main cause
of this is due to very high populations. Other factors are caused from historic
events that have occurred in the 1900's. China's contribution began with the
Chinese Civil War in the late 1920's. Shortly after, China suffered floods in
1931. After the 2nd Chinese Civil War in 1946 was when fossil fuel emissions
began to increase. Further, the United States began the 20th century with the
deadliest earthquake in American history. Then, in 1914 began WWI. Nearly 25
years later, in 2941 began WWII when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Including both
wars plus the civil war and the numerous natural disasters resulted in the need
for much recovery in the United States. Next, India began the 20th century with
many massacres and wars. One of India's worst natural disasters occurred in the
1990's in which numerous people froze to death after being stranded by violent rain
and snow storms. More, Italy entered WWII in 1940. You can see on the above
graph that Italy's fossil fuel emissions began to increase post-war. Finally,
Kenya was involved in WWI which ended in 1918, then again in WWII from
1939-1945. However, it is noticed that Kenya's fossil fuel emissions is
extremely low. This may be because the low population during this time. The
biggest emitter of carbon dioxide in the year 2010 was Qatar distributing 10.94
metric tons of carbon.
If the US had 309,000,000 people in 2010 and China had
1,338,000,000 people, on a per capita basis, an American is more at fault for
emitting Co2. The American is at fault here because the United States has a
smaller population and is pretty even with China on their Co2 emissions and China
has a billion more people than the United States and the fact that the United
States is even close to the Chinese is definitely the fault of the American.
Although the Netherlands is very low compared to this, they have many programs
to help with climate change.
A major goal of the 2004-2011 program, "Climate changes
Spatial Planning" was to enhance joint-learning between communities and
people in practice within spatial planning. The program aimed to generate
internationally competitive scientific results and to provide a knowledge base
that interactively supports practitioners on how to cope with climate change.
The mission of the program was to introduce climate change
as one of the guiding principles for spatial planning in the Netherlands. The
program recognized that the benefits of climate research arise from the
application of its findings in land, water, and nature management.
Further, the program was centered on five "main
themes": climate scenarios, mitigation, adaption, integration, and
communication. Projects were interactively designed to cover issues relevant to
climate and spatial planning and for the sectors as biodiversity and nature,
agriculture, fisheries, fresh water, coastal areas, transport on land and
water, sustainable energy production, business, finance and insurance and
governmental strategies.
Throughout the Netherlands consists of numerous partners and
organizations who contribute to improving climate. A few of the organizations
in which caught my interest were the Cooperative Program on Water and Climate
(CPWC), the Dutch Association of Regional Water Authorities (UvW), and the
Energy research Center of the Netherlands (ECN).
The Cooperative Program on Water and Climate (CPWC) was
initiated in 2001. Its mission is to promote and mainstream activities in the
water sector that contribute to coping with the impacts of climate variability
and change, especially for the most vulnerable communities. CPWC assists the
Netherlands government and water sector with the implementation of its
international ambitions on water and climate in "Water Mondiaal." The
Dutch Association of Regional Water Authorities (UvW) promotes the interest of
the 26 Dutch water authorities at a national and international level. The
association also advises the water authorities, draws up guidelines, safeguards
the interests with regard to third parties, supports the water authorities with
the implementation of European regulations and participates in studies and
research. On an European level the Association is member of EUREAU, EUWMA, and
EWA. In the Holland Climate House you can meet multiple water authorities (this
would be fascinating). The Energy research Center of the Netherlands (ECN)
develops high quality knowledge and technology for the transition to
sustainable energy management. Their focus is on energy conservation,
sustainable energy and an efficient and clean use of fossil fuels. ECN also
possesses unique environmental expertise through the combination of monitoring
greenhouse gases and modeling concentrations and emission patterns. This also
measures greenhouse gas fluxes above fields.
Cumulative contribution to climate change
Year 1900:
United States: 180,878 thousand metric tons
China: 26 thousand metric tons
India: 3,562 thousand metric tons
Italy: 3,796 thousand metric tons
Kenya: Did not start contributing until 1950 resulting in
248 thousand metric tons
Netherlands: 3,994 thousand metric tons
United States, unfortunately, is responsible for most Co2
emissions. Especially in the absence of global leadership from the United
States on this matter, this hard and undisputed fact of which nation is “most
to blame” seems to many observers likely to be increasingly an issue in
negotiations as the effects of manmade global warming grow worse.
The United States was, back then, leading China by 144% of
Co2 emissions. The US was also leading India by nearly 2% of Co2. China's
economic boom only got going recently, and started producing more Co2 emissions
per year than the United States in about 2007. That's why the cumulative
contribution to the heat-trapping greenhouse gases is still a distant second to
that of the United States. At current rates, China won't catch up to the United
States for a couple of decades. However, in the single year of 2010 China's
total emissions exceeded America's.
Comparison of Graphs:
The "Million Metric Tons of Carbon" graph started
in 1900 while the "Keeling Curve" graph started in 1950. While the
Keeling Curve has a steady increase, the MMTC does not start to slightly increase
until 1980. And, it's not until many decades later to see dramatic increases.
