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Geography Faculty Contribute to Book on Greenhouse Gas Emissions |
| By
Kimyette Finley |
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Dec 9, 2003 |
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Several members of UT’s geography and planning department have co-authored a book that examines greenhouse gas emissions in local places, including northwest Ohio. The UT researchers and their findings about our area are part of the book Global Changes and Local Places: Estimating, Understanding and Reducing Greenhouse Gases, published by Cambridge University Press.
Dr. Peter Lindquist, associate professor and chair of the geography department; Dr. Samuel Aryeetey-Attoh, professor; Dr. Neil Reid, associate professor; and Dr. William Muraco, professor emeritus, contributed to the book, which was published last summer. The Association of American Geographers, with some funding from NASA, sponsored the project, which included several years of research. In addition to northwest Ohio, the book examines climate change and greenhouse gas emissions in southwest Kansas, northwestern North Carolina and central Pennsylvania.
“The conceptual framework was based on the premise that a lot of research had been done at the global level as well as the regional level on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. But very little had been done on a small geographical scale,” Aryeetey-Attoh explained. “Toledo and its surrounding region attracted the attention of the project because of its centrality in the traditional urban-industrial heartland of the United States.”
To study northwest Ohio, the UT researchers took an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions from 1970 to 1990 and a projection from 1990 to 2020. Several graduate students contacted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to collect the data pertaining to industrial and agricultural emissions, as well as emissions from utilities, and examined carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Companies such as BPAmoco Lima Chemical Plant, Toledo Edison and Sunoco were just a few examined. The research also included agricultural emissions such as cow manure, livestock management and fertilizers, as well as emissions from other areas, including transportation.
“We’re trying to make a connection between the global scale and the local scale,” Reid said. For example, decisions that are made at BP international headquarters in London could affect how business is carried out at the northwest Ohio plant.
There was an increase in transportation emissions. “People drive more, and there are longer commute times. We expected those [emissions] to increase over time,” Lindquist explained. He added that another reason for the increase could be attributed to an overall decrease in carpooling and public transportation usage.
The researchers found that the 23-county study region of northwestern Ohio accomplished a 26 percent decline in greenhouse gas emissions from 1970 to 1990. Lindquist said a key reason was industrial restructuring, and the study also suggested federal and state government enforcement of more stringent air pollution controls mandated by the Clean Air Act as a possible factor.
Aryeetey-Attoh said the book is groundbreaking because of the emphasis on local places and place-based science, which he said is an under-researched area. “This is really looking at it from a bottom-up perspective. It looks at how local places contribute to global warming and how they adapt to global climate change. He also added the research brought together different universities, including Pennsylvania State University, Kansas State University, Appalachian State University and Clark University.
“This was a high-profile project,” Reid said about the book and research. The UT researchers have already presented information at geography conferences, and they expect the book to be reviewed in several academic journals within the next few months.
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