COMMON SENSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

The document advocates for immediate action to combat climate change using existing technologies. It identifies fossil fuel combustion and deforestation as the primary drivers of CO2 increase and proposes five 'common sense' solutions: increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, modernizing the electricity system with renewables, improving energy efficiency in buildings, protecting forests, and increasing federal R&D for clean energy. It emphasizes that these steps would reduce emissions while saving consumers money and enhancing energy security.

• Transportation is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for over 30 percent of annual CO2 emissions in the US. The document asserts that increasing the average fuel economy of the automotive fleet from 24 to 40 mpg by 2012 is achievable through better engines, transmissions, and aerodynamic designs, which would be equivalent to removing 44 million cars from the road.
• Power plants are the single largest source of CO2 in the US, contributing 40 percent of the total. The guide proposes a national standard to ensure 20 percent of electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020, noting that the cost of wind energy dropped from 40 cents per kilowatt hour in 1980 to between 3 and 6 cents at the time of writing.
• Energy efficiency in homes and businesses offers significant emission reductions and financial savings. The document states that energy-efficiency standards for household appliances have prevented 53 million tons of heat-trapping gases from entering the air annually over the last two decades, and that replacing all US household appliances with the most efficient models would eliminate 175 million tons of heat-trapping gases.
• Forests are critical for carbon storage, and their destruction is a primary driver of emissions, with tropical deforestation accounting for approximately 20 percent of annual human-caused CO2 emissions.
• The US government's investment in energy research is skewed toward legacy industries; in 2001, Congress appropriated $736 million for fossil fuel and $667 million for nuclear research, compared to only $376 million for all renewable energy technologies combined.
• The United States is the world's leading contributor of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, producing 25 percent of annual emissions (5.5 billion metric tons) despite having only 5 percent of the global population.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (n.d.). COMMON SENSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/climatesolns%5B1%5D.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. COMMON SENSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE. n.d. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/climatesolns%5B1%5D.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=COMMON SENSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/climatesolns%5B1%5D.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientistsndcommon, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{COMMON SENSE ON CLIMATE CHANGE}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/climatesolns%5B1%5D.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }