Climate Change Crusade Takes Flight

The United States Environmental Protection Agency is experiencing some unexpected turbulence. California's attorney general, Jerry Brown, four states and three environmental groups are demanding the EPA recalibrate its commitment to climate change and impose limits on air travel emissions, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.

At present, the federal government does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions from any vehicles, including aircraft. Air travel, however, is believed by the EPA to account for almost 12% of the U.S. transportation sector’s emissions. According to the Chronicle, the Federal Aviation Administration says air travel is expected to continue climb to new altitudes, increasing by a total of 60% by 2025.

Considering planes travel in earth’s most sensitive atmospheric layers — the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere — they can have an oversize impact on climate change. Not only can discharged gases and particles add to greenhouse gas concentrations, but water vapor can also create heat-trapping clouds, which, according to the Chronicle, “scientists believe accelerate the warming effect.”

For more information, read the petitions by both the states and the environmental groups.

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