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UnDisciplined: Have greenhouse gas emissions peaked? Does that mean we’re going to be OK?

According to the EPA, stronger standards would reduce harmful emissions and energy waste from covered sources by 87% below 2005 levels.
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According to the EPA, stronger standards would reduce harmful emissions and energy waste from covered sources by 87% below 2005 levels.

It was not so long ago that there seemed to be no end in sight for the continual rise of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. For centuries, the burning of fossil fuels had produced huge volumes of these planet-warming gasses. And as the global population grew and nations across the planet reached development goals, the emissions went up and up. But now it seems possible, even likely, that we may have reached the point in which the emissions responsible for climate change are actually starting to fall.

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Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something occurred to him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be so brutally depressing all the time. These days, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects with his work on UnDisciplined — Utah Public Radio's weekly program on science and discovery.