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Eassay about Kyoto Protocol
Eassay about Kyoto Protocol
Climate change and its impact on our economic lives
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It is becoming increasingly certain that climate change will have severe adverse effects on the environment in years to come. Addressing this issue poses a serious challenge for policy makers. How we choose to respond to the threat of global warming is not simply a political issue. It is also an economic issue and an ethical one. Responsible, effective climate change policy requires consideration of a number of complex factors, including weighing the costs of implementing climate change policies against the benefits of more environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, this analysis must take place amidst serious gaps in the existing research and technology concerning the developing climatic condition. For these reasons, global warming stands as one of the most daunting policy issues facing our world today. This is compounded by the debate over the very existence of climate change. While countless sources of empirical evidence testify to the very real presence of climate change the world over, considerable denial of the phenomenon still exists. The argument has been made that evidence about climate change is a gross overstatement, or in some cases, a complete fabrication. Despite the evidence to the contrary, many interest groups with considerable political clout have successfully perpetuated the argument that documented changes in the environment are a product of natural cyclical changes in climate, and are not associated with human activities. However, even the acceptance of this particular brand of reality is no grounds for the disregard of environmental consciousness. Even if one accepts the premise that recent climate change is not resultant of human activity, the rationale behind environmental conservation remains ... ... middle of paper ... ...University. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. . Kverndokk, Snorre, and Adam Rose. Equity and Justice in Global Warming Policy. Working paper no. 239. Vol. 80. Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, 2008. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. . Nordhaus, William D. "Economic Aspects of Global Warming in a Post-Copenhagen Environment." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107.26 (2010): 11721-1726. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. . Nordhaus, William. The Challenge of Global Warming: Economic Models and Environmental Policy. New Haven: Yale University, 2007. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. Rabe, Barry G. Statehouse and Greenhouse: the Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2004. 1-10. Web. 2 Dec. 2011.
"UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile." UCLA Language Materials Project: Main. UCLA. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. .
The consequences as the result of the earth warming up cannot be ignored any longer. We need to stop wasting our time debating if climate change is man-made or a natural phenomenon. It is clear to me, and many scientists, that we are slowly killing our planet and all its inhabitants (human and non-human animals). We need to stand united and stand tall in this fight to save the ecosystems. We have become an over populated consumerist society, consuming far more natural resources and energy than the generations before the Industrial Revolution. Thus giving off substantial amounts of greenhouse gases that dramatically change the temperature of our planet. It is well documented in various reports how much the Earth’s temperature is rising and is predicted to rise at a rate of 2°C in the next two to three decades. With two-thirds of the world’s population living within two hundred miles of seacoast, and with most of the world’s economy concentrated in coastal cities, rising sea levels would cause immense devastation. Climate change is happening before our eyes with unpredictable storms and weather patterns, severe droughts, and melting polar caps. It is up to each of us to change our behavior to a more sustainable one, by utilizing renewable energy sources--humankind and the Earth are depending on it (Lovelock
ed. “A Common-Sense Climate Index: Is Climate Changing? Noticeably?” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 95 (1998): 4113-20. Thomas Wigley, “The Kyoto Protocol: CO2, CH4, and Climate Implications,” pp.
The threat of climate change in recent years is recognized as a real and potentially catastrophic threat to the health and welfare of our planet, as industrialized nations continue to run their economies by burning carbon into the atmosphere. Recently, it has taken on a larger role in our national media, the public, and the government, as the effects of anthropogenic climate change become more evident. In the United States, for example, the year 2007 brought the first major piece of legislation in the country to address the problem under the Climate Security Act, and the United States Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. Today, many politicians, economists, scientists, and environmentalists propose a solution that would create a regulated market based on emissions into the atmosphere, effectively internalizing all negative externalities. It’s called cap and trade, and it has a lot of potential to help incentivize the implementation of alternative forms of energy, has several different variations and alternatives, and has already been successful in many programs around the world.
Ever since the advent of weather observation and prediction technology in the past 150 years, science has created a consensus that the earth is getting warmer, and that human influence is to blame. Some even blame this change, known as global warming, for bouts of extreme weather including cyclonic storms, droughts, wildfires, and heat waves. These scientists (and much of the public) believe that our influence is the problem, as our emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, the product of the usage of our fuels, are polluting the atmosphere and trapping energy from the sun within. However, a minority group, scientists and public skeptics alike, believe this warming trend is merely a coincidence with the earth’s naturally cyclical climate, and that the activists are overstating something they know little about. Many even agree that if the prospect of our influence were to be true, the effects are not at all that bad, unlike what it is hyped to be. Thus, global warming has become a debatable theory. Much like legislation that prevents schools from teaching evolution as anything more than a theory, now there are also laws that mandate that global warming be considered debatable, and to argue both sides of it (Jonas).
The Earth's climate has changed significantly throughout history. In the last 700,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat. With the abrupt end of the last ice age approximately 7,000 years ago the beginning of the modern climate era was born. In the last century the global sea level has risen 17cm. All three major global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880. Most of this warming has occurred since the 1970s, with the 20 warmest years, having occurred since 1981 and with all 10 of the warmest years occurring in the past 12 years. There is no denying global warming. Once considered a conspiracy theory by the world’s leading governments, industries and populations; global warming
Stern ,N, (2006). What Is The Economics Of Climate Change. World Economics Vol 7. p(1-10).
Sheppard, M., (2010). Post climategate: Towards a reassessment of the global warming. Retrieved February 13, 2010, from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=20017
Caperton, Richard W. "A Progressive Carbon Tax Will Fight Climate Change and Stimulate the Economy." Center for American Progress. N.p., 6 Dec. 2012. Web. The Web.
Although it is often a topic for contention in politics, global warming over the span of several decades, has led to climate change, which has had an alarming impact globally. Climate change needs to ...
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
Former Vice President, Al Gore’s speech, The Climate Emergency, was a highly accurate prediction of the circumstances our planet would be under in coming years. The facts relevant as of 2004 are still true in the year 2015. While many companies and individuals have learned to contribute to helping our plant go greener, the dangers of the climate change are still a pressing issue supported by scientific evidence. With occurrences such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and ice cap disappearances, global warming is physically being show on our planet and in order to prevent a complete reversed climate on our hemispheres, the population of Earth as a whole must ban together to reduce our carbon footprint.
Singer, S.F., Avery, D. (2007). Unstoppable global warming every 1500 years. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc
Williams, Laurence O. An End to Global Warming. Ohio: Pergamno, 2012. Web 13 May 2015
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...