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Solution to the problem of global warming
Solution to the problem of global warming
Simple solutions to global warming
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Climate justice is a fluid concept; it has various understandings and definitions. In general, it basically means the idea that how to view and solve the unequal burdens produced by climate change. In this paper, I will say historical responsibility is the most important element of climate justice, because the injustice has been started from the past. Even though industrialized countries reduce their greenhouse gas emission, the injustice still remains. In order to solve the climate change, historical responsibility is an indispensable motivation.
Industrial evolution began and industrialized countries of the Global North started to emit greenhouse gases since 18th Century. According to the “IPCC Fourth Assessment report (2007)”, it states
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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
The two essays by Michael Pollan and Curtis white talk about climate change in regards to the relationship between the environment and human beings. Although the two essays share the same topic, they take the subject and engage the readers in totally different points of views. Pollan’s essay talks about global and ecological responsibility being a personal virtue while Curtis discusses the socio-economic or political issues underlying sustainability (Pollan; White). These two essays are very different in terms of voice; however these pieces of writing are both important for people all over the world to read. Climate change and environmental disasters are a real issue. Just this year, there have been more storms, cyclones, earthquakes and typhoons all over the world. One cannot look at the state of many developing counties where the majority of the population is exposed and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This issue on developing a viable solution for the problem of anthropogenic gases and global warming is long from being found. Not only this, many people do not want to hear about this issue since they do not think it is real. Unless people have tangible proof that their cars, thermostats and aerosol cans are contributing to climate change, they are not going to give up their lifestyles. By synthesizing the two essays, one can see that there is a need for change and that it is not an issue which should be dealt with in terms of ecological factors or even personal virtue. The social, economic and political factors affecting this problem and the move towards real sustainability should also be a topic that will raise awareness.
The Industrial Revolution was not only a turning point in the progress of human history, but the start of a great change in the Earth’s environment. Technological advances in industry and mass migration into urban areas led to a rising demand for energy sources, a demand met by fossil fuels. Casper, J. (2010) describes coal as ‘symbolic of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution’, the increased combustion of these ‘dirty’ fossil fuels further polluted the air and enhanced the volume of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Changes in land use attributed to population rise, reduced the amount of photosynthesising biomass on Earth, diminished an important ‘carbon sink’ and concluded to enhance the Greenhouse Effect.
First, during the last few decades the Earth is experiencing greater rate of rising temperatures due to greenhouse gases that are being produced by human activities rather than because of environmental reasons, such as solar or volcanic activities. In 2006 the President of the National Academy of Sciences stated: “There is no doubt that the Earth is warming,” also he added that people are at least partly responsible for these changes in addition to regular factors (Cicerone, par.4). Natural factors have produced climate fluctuations on Earth for several million years. People have effected an atmosphere of the Earth just for nearly one hundred years, since Industrial Revolution has begun (Revkin 340). Of course, it is unfair to say that global warming is caused entirely by humans. For example, people can not have an impact on the position of Earth in relation to the sun, or on the galactic density, or such nature events as air emissions of volcanic gases. As a result of these environmental factors, Earth usually had higher rates of temperature fluctuations during the previous million years than it has in later centuries. On the other hand, people are responsible for the highest concentration of greenhouse gases during the last 650,000 years in the atmosphere due to industrial manufacturing, driven by the increase in consumer consumption (Lindsey, par.
Examine, The World May Have Hit Peak Carbon Emission, document E, which talks about how there is a chance that we may be on our way to lowering carbon dioxide emissions, but the future of climate change lies in the hands of China’s and India’s growth and how they plan on fueling their growth. It also depends on the national leaders that signed the Paris climate agreement and whether they plan on upholding their part of the agreement through the years. The author of the paper Fast Company describes the unpredictable future by saying “Even if emissions were to peak soon, global emissions would still take years to decline substantively. An acceleration in the transformation of energy use and production is needed.” This shows that even though nations are finally coming to the reality of climate change and are planning on taking action with the treaty,
In the article “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math”, written by Bill Mckibben, he firstly opens up by saying that back in 2012, according to the statistics, we surpassed the global record high for climate temperature in our nation, destroying other previous records. Despite the research and the displaying of data, nobody is doing anything to adress the following issue. Mckibben outlines three distinctive numbers that outline the following issue., 2 degrees celsius, 565 gigations, and 2795 gigtons, which he uses to validitate and support his argument. Firstly, the ongoing problem of climate change in society is fundamentally a matter of individual moral responsibility that is inspired by the insight individuals are intentionally harming the environment. Secondly there is yet to be an effective collective state response to the issue of global warming, despite approaching two full decades of ongoing and reoccuring negotiations and the very near universal participation by states in the UNFCCC. Thirdly, because this issue has been put on hold for longer than it was innitially expected, greenhouse gases are being emitted into our atmosphere, polluting our environment. The South-North issue and an ongoing debate comes into effect as all the greenhouse gases that are created and used in the Northern hemisphere are being emmited into the southern hemisphere. Hence, my thesis is; despite the fact that global warming and climate change has been an ongoing problem globally for years, humanity has failed to resolve thiis issue as it quickly begins to escalate.
Blakemore adds informative charts about what each country has done to add to global warming and what certain countries have done in the past that could have affected the world now; each chart had much information on what country or what was happened to the world I periods of time. The charts gave more information and gave a strike of discussion on what each meant. His argument explains how no one is to blame and that no one should be pointing fingers at one another, “Who’s most to blame for global warming? Nobody meant it to happen. But it has, and there’s no debate among the world’s scientists about which country is ‘most responsible’” (354), what Blakemore was trying to point out was nobody was to blame because we all want to help the earth but do not know what has happened and do not want to be apart of what we all did. However, Blakemore did leave some holes of information about each country but, with extra graphs and other information from other countries, which summed it altogether. With his strong argument, he shows the audience his stance and backs it up with facts, “Note that, after falling out of the atmosphere quickly during the first 50 years to about a third, the ‘decay’ of the CO2, emissions slows dramatically. Twenty-seven percent of it is still up there after 100 years, 17 percent after 500
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society is facing 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 slowest” (geocraft). There are no known solutions yet to reverse these effects in the environment, however there are many things people can do to prevent it from increasing. By implementing a carbon tax the government can tax corporations on how much carbon they emit into the atmosphere. With the extra money from the tax, scientist can invest in alternative ways to reduce how much carbon is emitted. Reducing climate change is going to take years and so nothing is going to get fixed anytime soon, but meanwhile we can use that extra money to begin cleaning up the atmosphere. There are many ways to explain climate change, some say its due to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, others say it is the burning of the fossils fuels, some even say it’s the greenhouse gases. All of these sayings mean the exact same thing, no matter how one says it. I believe there are more convenient ways to solve climate change; and if the government would to implement a carbon tax on companies they will then be forced to re-evaluate all the carbon they emit to the environment and red...
The dawn of the twentieth century marked the beginning of dramatic changes around the world. The invent of steam and coal driven machines was creating an industrial boom the likes of which the world has never seen. As the world’s focus was turned to the exploding economy of the Second Industrial Revolution, behind the scenes, carbon dioxide pollution was beginning to collect in the atmosphere. The collection of this gas caused the atmosphere to absorb more solar radiation and was slowly heating the earth. At the time many people believed shift in the climate was not caused by gases in the atmosphere, but the ever present forces of earthly elements such as
The Web. 2 Dec. 2011. http://www.samuel-insull.com/12_12_06RTOCarTalk1.pdf>. Kverndokk, Snorre, and Adam Rose. Equity and Justice in Global Warming Policy.
Secondly it does not postulate a full vindication of climate justice given its only partial allusion to all things cogitated as justice such as a person who pollutes significantly less yet has benefited from great injustices will face a smaller liability than someone who pollutes abstemiously but otherwise leads a saint like life ardent to realizing the ends of justice. The prejudiced wealth of the lower polluter may enable him to even pollute less say for example they have spent their Nazi gold on wind turbines. (Arneson, 2011)
Therefore, the obligation to address climate change falls on all the nations. But why are the problems of climate change so difficult to think clearly about and act efficiently? To start with, the rapid industrialization of the major Asian nations, especially India and China, amplified the ongoing crisis. And since the impact of Western countries are indirect, they are unwilling to sacrifice their current benefits by cutting down on emissions. Stephen M. Gardiner examines this phenomenon in his paper “A Perfect Moral Storm: Climate Change, Intergenerational Ethics and the Problem of Moral Corruption”.
The emission of green house gasses due to human activity contributes the most in increasing global warming. Today, fossil fuels are used as a source of energy for transportation, electricity, industrial process and to increase human comfort in this era. Over the last decade humans have created mass amount of industries. These industries have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, which release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide absorbs heat that raises the temperature of the earth. More than 80% of carbon dioxide comes from tr...
It was difficult for me, at first, to understand the momentum of Climate Justice. When I started high school, it became clear to me how significant the issue was. I’m from a small island in Indonesia, called Bali, where garbage is carelessly tossed over the shoulders of locals. I never noticed it because it was the environment I lived in, it never seemed odd or out of place. When I moved to America for the first time, I noticed a drastic difference. I moved to a small town in Northern California, where priuses and reusable cloth bags were counted on fingers and toes. Shortly after, I moved back to Bali, and it was a monumental shock. I had never took notice of the impact it had on the earth. In Bali I constantly observed my setting, from wading
In this essay I will outline the ways in which the international community has failed to respond to climate change in the right way, specifically looking at the effect that climate change has had on poor countries and their peoples. The international community has failed to address climate change in a way that is effective in helping not only those in the developed world but also those in poor countries. The irony of global warming is that developed countries that contribute most to it are often in areas that are least effected by the consequences and yet they have the most power to combat the effects. In contrast poor countries, such as pacific island countries (PICs) and those in the arctic, are often situated in areas that are most effected
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.