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Essay on the contribution of atmospheric pollution to climate change
Essay on the contribution of atmospheric pollution to climate change
Industrialization impact on environment
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1. Background
Climate change is one of the most important international issues and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenges posed by climate change (Guidance on how to measure and report your greenhouse gas emissions, 2009).With the increasing awareness of the severity of climate change, the reduction of CO2 emissions has become a predominant topic. According to International Energy Agency (2013), China emitted 7954.55 million tons of CO2 which occupied 24% of total global CO2 emissions in 2011.
The Kyoto Protocol is a global agreement linked to the UNFCCC which sets targets for countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Although China have ratified the Kyoto protocol, Developing countries such as China and India do not need to present any emissions targets. However, developed countries in G20 which are directly affected by global warming, pressure China to follow the rules and set a clear goal for greenhouse gas emission. Chinese government has set the ambitious target of increasing the share of hydropower, wind power, solar power and other renewables to 15% by 2020 to replace the fossil fuels in order to reduce carbon emission (Jiahua and Xianli). Moreover, to deal with the rising problem regarding climate change ,the State Council announced that China is going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005 (Xinhua News, 2009).
Although Ch...
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...ny indicators index were disclosed in corporate voluntary reports through the GRI3.1 or GRI3.0. The presence of words and concepts in carbon-related indicator were record as (1) while the absence or no disclosure of certain indicator were record as (0). The disclosure of carbon footprint or initiatives assumed to reflect the activities adopted by the company. The GRI guidelines provide clear indicators for energy and carbon footprint, which make it easy and accurate to assess whether the companies make effort to disclose carbon footprint and take action to achieve initiatives for carbon reductions among 20 Chinese listed companies. More indicators companies disclosed means that companies take more action to publish more specific carbon consumption or initiatives of carbon reductions to the public. It can reduce the legitimacy gap and satisfy social expectations.
The Kyoto Protocol was created to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are affecting Earth. The project is extremely expensive and lacks effectiveness. The protocol may benefit the world in the far future, but it is not worth a country going poor. Also, if tackling the issue involves the cooperation of our entire earth, developing countries should not be excluded. The Kyoto Protocol raises many concerns, and if something is going to impact our economy so greatly, it should not raise any concerns and should be foolproof. In order to demonstrate the lack of effectiveness, the economic consequences must first be discussed.
Is the lifestyle of people in Europe and the USA a major cause of China’s environmental problems?
The first metric will focus on their understanding how well their global factories are adapting to a more energy efficient system and determine whether or not the steps they are taking are adequate enough to determine success or failure. The second metric is focused on understanding their product’s ecological and environmental impact; essentially determining what type of waste is left through manufacturing and selling their products. It is with the understanding that the manufacturing of goods is not the end of the process, but rather the start of a full cycle of creating a sustainable company. The last metric is focused on employee participation, their
In the atmosphere CO2 along with other GHG absorbs and hold the rays of the sun. The GHG holds the warmth of the sun rays in the air. This causes the air around the world to get warmer. In other word CO2 had its pros and cons, but too much of anything is bad. In the chart “Top Ten Carbon Dioxide-Emitting Countries, 2013” it shows that China ranks number one in countries that have high CO2 emission with 10,281,178 Kilotons of CO2. Dictionary.com defines kilotons as a unit of weight, equal to 1000 tons. The United States follows Chine with 5,297,581 Kilotons of CO2. Brazil places last with 511,982 Kilotons of CO2. For this reason global warming affects the world and has become a big
Potential impacts of technology on a global scale are relatively long-term, the NCCTI is guided over this by the climate change goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 (Kyoto Protocol), ratified by the United States and more than 170 other countries (5) (3). The UNFCCC calls for the "... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."(5) In order to achieve this long-term goal, net emissions of greenhouse gases on a global scale must ultimately approach levels that are lower than they are today. (1)
Climate change, otherwise known as global warming, has grown more apparent in recent years, with increased natural disasters, significantly warmer temperatures and unreasonably long seasons. Global warming is one of the main concerns that scientists have been researching for the past century. Scientific evidence shows that global warming is caused by human behaviors. Due to the amount of human-induced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been released into the air, the earth is becoming a highly poisonous place to live on. Earth’s climate has been constantly changing ever since the Industrial Revolution, when innovations began and factories were built, which emitted mass air pollution. As more technological advances continued the years after, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air also increased. According to the UPI Space Daily News, “Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main cause of global warming - increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010” (Writers 1). The 1900s through the 2000s is the time period in which humans caused the most air pollution by creating vehicles and other industrial machinery. In the contemporary time period, human activities that contribute to climate change consist of hydraulic fracturing, rice cultivation, the increase of fossil fuel burning, and the rise of deforestation.
...lity report was issued by only 12 companies in the Fortune 500, however now it is a common practice for most companies. This is evident through the fact that the UN Global Compact is signed by more than 8000 business that indicates their good global citizenship in areas of human rights, environment protection and labor rights. And in future CSR is expected to be given more importance by leaders.
Companies have presented investigations about their motivation towards voluntarily social and environmental as insolvent. This paper argues in agreement with Adam’s view that the goal of CSR reporting is to promote credibility and corporate image of stakeholders operating in a particular industry. Whereas companies must focus their efforts on enhancing their profitability, they should also ensure that the welfare of other stakeholders is protected.
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society faces today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today, the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been the slowest” (geocraft).
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
Countries such as China and Japan need to enforce more powerful regulations on the amount of carbon emissions that they produce. China put in regulations just this last year and Japan postponed plans for a national regulations on carbon emissions, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations. It’s not a good sign that large corporations can control how a nation regulates its environmental safety laws. China is finally planning to regulate their carbon emissions. This is long over due concerting that China ranks as the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter, thanks in part to the massive amounts of coal the country burns. China currently builds a new coal-fired power plant at a rate of about one every week to ten days. The country’s coal burning levels are nearly on par with the rest of the world combined.
If we are only based on the current greenhouse gases to determine who has the biggest burden to solve climate change, industrialized countries have less greenhouse emission than the past, whereas developing countries have a higher greenhouse gases emission. According to data compiled by the “Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency”, China now is the top emitter in the world, it is responsible for 28.6% for current greenhouse gases emission, whereas US is only responsible for 16%. However, for historical greenhouse gases emission, US is the top emitter, it is responsible for 28.8% greenhouse gases emission, whereas China is only responsible for 9%. In order to have a sustainable development, certain amount of greenhouse emission cannot be avoided. It is definitely not fair to ignore what people have done in the past and shirk off the responsibility of solving climate change to developing countries. Furthermore, adding extra burden on developing countries cannot solve climate change; instead, it possibly aggravates poverty, famine and inequality. Eventually, it forms a vicious circle, and it slows down the progress of solving climate change. Thus, historical responsibility not only determines who should be responsible for the compensation to the victims, it also acts as a motivation to force the emitters to solve the problems they have made in the
Nowadays, we can see a lot of campaigns to reduce this humans’ contribution of greenhouse gases to atmosphere. These campaign’s missions are usually about reducing the energy that we use, convincing us to use recyclable energy, stopping the deforestation... These missions are all about mitigating to climate change. Climate change mitigation is the actions to limit the significant rate of long term climate change. In other words, climate change mitigation is all of the actions about lowering the humans’ greenhouse gas contribution to atmosphere. It is now too late for humans’ to prevent the effects of climate change, but these effects can be reduced in the future with mitigation. The most popular treaty, disenchant of humanity, is Kyoto Protocol. The main goal of Kyoto Protocol is reducing the human emitted greenhouse gases, in other word, mitigation. Also in ways that underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make th...
Vidal, J., & Adam, D. (2007, June 19). China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/jun/19/china.usnews
Global warming is an extremely important and troubling aspect of the world’s current situation. This is due to the fact that the majority of the world’s energy production is from non-renewable energy sources, which are energy sources that either can not be naturally replenished or require thousands of years to be restored. Based on our current energy usage growth rates, there are an estimated 100 years left before our natural resource reserves are exhausted. (Non Renewable Natural Resources: How Much Is Left, Environmental Thinker) China alone consumes nearly as much coal as the combined usage of coal from the rest of the world. (US Energy Information Administration, China Consumes Nearly as Much Coal as the Rest of the World Combined) There is visible evidence of this happening with the increasing pollution levels. Carbon Dioxide and Methane pollution levels in the world reached a record high in 2012 and are 260% higher than the pre-industrial levels. (UN: CO2 Pollution Levels at a Record High, John Heilprin) Converting our world into a more renewable energy dependent society is the most advantageous and likely method for preserving our dwindling fossil fuel supply while also protecting the world that we call home.