That's a phrase from Sir Nicholas Stern during his U.S. Senate presentation yesterday.
And from Paul Volcker in his presentation in Cairo, Egypt: “Global warming is bad for the economy.”
It's very interesting to follow the U.S. political debate about global warming and to read about top economists like Sir Nicholas Stern and Paul Volcker stepping up to the plate.
It's also eye-opening to read scientific information defining stabilization of CO2 in the atmosphere at about 1 ton of CO2 per person a year and then go to the World Resource Institute’s Climate Analysis Indicators Tool CAIT to look at the CO2 emissions of each continent and country.
Two other great resources to better understand greenhouse gas emissions and global warming are the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (they've been collecting detailed U.S. greenhouse gas emissions since 1990) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change website.
I think this calls for true U.S. leadership! Not with more words, but with real actions!
I believe these leadership actions need to come in leaps, not incremental steps. I know what's possible in construction: 80% to 90% in energy use reduction and increased user comfort while the remaining energy needed can easily be generated by renewable energies. Case in point right here in the U.S.: Waldsee BioHaus.
Let’s do it!
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waldsee BioHaus, 
concordia Language Villages, 
sustainable design, 
Brightcove
