Last week I took out the garbage.

Monday, January 14, 2002

Last week I took out the garbage.

There’s nothing too unusual about that – although my wife might tell you otherwise.

The strange part, though, was that it’s January and I took out the garbage without putting on my coat. And I was wearing a T-shirt. And although I was wearing tennis shoes, I didn’t end up with snow trapped between the inside of the shoe and the sides of my feet. That’s because there was no snow.

This strange garbage-disposal phenomenon has been reported across Minnesota this winter, as record-breaking warm temperatures have settled over the area. Everywhere, people are happily trotting their trash out to the corner or the garage without trudging through snow or applying eight layers of clothing.

Inevitably, whenever we get a warmer-than average winter, people start to say things. &uot;Maybe this is global warming,&uot; they say. Just like, whenever it’s really cold in the summer, they say &uot;How about this? Global warming my foot!&uot;

But of course, you can’t make determinations about global warming from the example of a few days or even a few years. You have to look at the long-term trends.

There is still some debate on whether the greenhouse effect and global warming are valid science or Chicken-Little-ism. This much is known, however: Over the last century, the average surface temperature of this planet has risen by about one degree Farenheit, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Over that same period, oceans have risen six to eight inches, partly due to melting polar icecaps and glaciers.

One degree? Eight inches? No, it doesn’t sound like much. But if these statistics do represent a trend toward a warmer planet, it spells trouble for us and the rest of the creatures that hang around here.

Some people say that global warming is not actually happening. I’m not a meteorologist, or a climatologist, or an ecologist, but I figure if I had to bet on it, I’d bet that pumping billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year is going to have some kind of effect. And I’ve read about the planet Venus, where the atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide and the planet is too hot to be inhabitable by most life forms as we know them.

According to EPA figures from 1995, America produced 6.6 tons of carbon dioxide per person that year. That’s the most in the world, although other westernized countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand are not far behind.

A large portion of this gas comes from the tailpipes of cars like yours and mine. Every time we turn the key in our ignition, we’re firing up an engine that burns gas and emits CO2.

And we Americans love our cars. Not only that, we love them big. We’ve all seen the popularity of SUVs and other large vehicles, which burn fuel like crazy. We also seem to prefer driving alone. In the Twin Cities, they’ve got people whining about the carpool lanes, saying they should be opened to all traffic. I think a nearby senator was the champion for that cause, in fact. Did anybody up there consider actually carpooling so they could use those lanes? Doesn’t sound like it.

Well, the long and short of all this is that we’re a country that’s reliant on the convenience of automobile transportation at will. It’s our culture. So the best way to solve the emissions problem is probably not to waste our efforts on mass transit that nobody’s going to use or waste our breath on encouraging people to drive less. How about we just change the cars?

President George W. Bush announced this week that his administration has created a program that encourages auto makers to develop clean fuel-cell technology, which could power electric cars without burning fuel. There are many types of fuel cells, but most run on hydrogren, which creates a chemical reaction that produces electricity and heat when combined with oxygen. The only byproduct is water.

This has the added bonus of ridding our country of dependence on foreign oil.

Of course, these cars are probably at least a decade away. But as soon as they are out, we’re going to be seeing a much cleaner planet – and, I hope, one that will keep its cool.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays. E-mail him at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com.