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16 D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E that ragweed pollen, a major cause of allergies, will soar 64 per- cent if CO 2 levels double, as predicted by the year 2050. Studies of loblolly pines in North Carolina reached the same conclusion. THAT OUNCE OF PREVENTION As daunting as problems like asthma seem, a little effort can make a major difference. A Canadian Public Health Association study of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics found that when the city re- stricted auto traffic for the 17 days of the games, ozone levels fell 30 percent, and emergencies and hospitalizations for asthma dropped 40 percent. Because of the Bush administration's refusal to touch the sub- ject of global warming or impose mandatory controls on green- house gases, a number of states and cities have begun to take action on their own. Nine northeastern states have signed on to their own version of the Kyoto Treaty, agreeing to reduce CO 2 levels by 10 percent over the next 15 years. Hundreds of cities across the country have signed on. Seattle has built a monorail, uses streetcars, offers residents free city-owned hybrid gas cars, runs municipal vehicles on bio- diesel fuel, and has restored 2,500 acres of urban forest. As a re- sult, the city cut greenhouse gases by 48 percent from 1990 to 2000. "There is much that is doable," says San Francisco's Bhatia. "The effects of global warming being projected are not inevitable. We can do much to prevent it." He cites a California EPA study that 58 percent of CO 2 is pro- duced by transportation, a figure that will increase as the state's population grows. Only five percent of the city's residents use pub- lic transportation exclusively. "We can double that number soon." "Can we do something about global warming?" asks Moser. "Hell, yes!" She points to the recommendations of the Union of Con- cerned Scientists report: increased disease surveillance, temper- ature warnings, cooling stations, and education. And better healthcare. "Many people don't have healthcare, but that is the system that will have to deal with the consequences of climate change. We haven't had that conversation in this country yet," she says. Americans, she argues, are willing to tackle the problem. "Peo- ple want to do something positive, to leave a legacy. You have to appeal to that part of them. People understand you have to go though a little pain for long-term benefits. They put money away for their kids to go to college, they buy insurance." The Program on International Policy Attitudes found that 56 percent of Americans would be willing to incur significant eco- nomic costs to address global warming, and 73 percent said the United States should join the Kyoto Accords. But Moser says the involvement by the federal government is essential. "You can't give up driving your car if there are no buses, or no bus shelters, or [public transportation] costs too much." Francis concurs. "Government could have a tremendous im- pact on this. Remember seat belts? We got the data, passed laws, and people started wearing seat belts." Gelbspan even sees a certain silver lining in all this. "We live in a deeply fractured world. Here is an opportunity to bring all the nations of the world together. We can move beyond stale na- tionalism, create jobs, and undermine the economics of pover- ty and desperation." Carl Bloice is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. Conn Hallinan is a foreign policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus and a Lecturer in Journalism at UC Santa Cruz. This article was reprinted from Revolution magazine. Feature Story Satellite photos on July 21, 2003, and July 21, 2002, show the devas- tation wrought by drought in South Africa. In Africa, 34 countries and 30 million people have drought and food shortages. Courtesy NASA's Earth Observatory