global climate change

Global Climate Change

Everyone is talking about it, and the news is constantly covering it. But nobody ever does anything about it. The “it” is global warming. Global warming has been steadily increasing since the industrial revolution at alarming rates causing extreme weather including droughts, floods, heat waves, and hurricanes, which is a major concern. In fact, it’s increasing at a rate of 10% every year (IPCC). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group of scientists and government representatives from 130 countries that estimate the temperature rise to be 3.2-7.8 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100 (The Skeptical Environmentallist 207). There is a way to slow carbon emissions. The people of Sweden produce only 6.5 tons per person per year of carbon dioxide (CO2) versus the United States with a CO2 production rate of 20.14 tons per person per year. Amazingly, Sweden adopted renewable energy sources and strict conservation measures which have reduced its carbon emissions by 40 percent over the past 30 years while still experiencing dramatic increases in personal income and quality of life (The Skeptical Environmentallist 208).
In order to minimize the consequences of global warming, we must introduce highly efficient vehicles, create an abundance of renewable resources, and form the laws needed to slow global warming. Each of these solutions will provide a dramatic impact in reducing the carbon emissions, but it will take more than just the effort of these solutions, we must apply them to keep the earth as healthy as possible.
The first solution is the introduction of highly efficient cars that will get better gas mileage and consume much less fossil fuel because they are the primary producers in global warming (The Skeptical Environmentallist 94). There has been significant development of highly efficient vehicles, researching options for cleaner fuel, and incentives for people who buy efficient vehicles. For example, plug-in hybrids that offer a range of 500 miles or more, and the benefit of all-electric power vehicles, which require no gasoline at all, produce zero total emissions (The Skeptical Environmentallist 94).
Although highly efficient vehicles are effective, they will cost more to buy, but will ultimately pay off in the long run. To prevent the costs from getting too high, there must be multiple companies producing these highly efficient vehicles to increase the competition, therefore leaving the prices lower for the consumer. Lower prices mean more people purchasing this low or non-emitting vehicle to replace their old gas guzzler, which will result in less CO2 emissions.
The second level of CO2 reduction is the usage of renewable energy, such as solar panels and wind towers. Solar and wind energy are being used now as a clean, safe choice for our nation. One of the quickest ways to add more solar to our energy mix is to build utility-scale power plants because the United States has some of the best solar resources in the world The Skeptical Environmentallist 55). These power plants are not just a small part of the solution to reduce the pollution, but it will create a significant number of green jobs that will help stimulate the economy. This goes to show that the solar energy industry is ready to power America and other countries because when we burn fossil fuels, we are actually burning stored forms of potential energy created from solar energy; so why not use solar energy instead which creates no emissions at all (The Skeptical Environmentallist 25).
The idea of building utility-scale power plants is a great idea, but it might take many decades to construct such factories to control pollution. This will result in the problem getting worse overtime making it harder to control. Instead of wasting so much time, corporations can either work together with other businesses, or with other countries to get the supplies needed to build these factories as soon as possible.
The creation and enforcement of carbon emission laws would make the third solution possible. This would be done by creating laws that require industries to cut their carbon pollution significantly. For instance, California’s Global Warming Solution Act required all major industrial producers to reduce air pollution and increase energy efficiency by 25% by 2020 (IPCC). Many businesses will not just volunteer in cutting carbon emissions because it would cost them a lot of time and money. Instead, creating a carbon tax on all carbon-containing fuels, like petroleum, natural gas, and coal. It would be necessary to apply this tax because it would motivate consumers to consume less gasoline and force businesses to innovate in green technologies (The Skeptical Environmentallist 25). The left over money from the carbon tax would be used to create those utility-scale power plants as was previously stated.
As for developing countries, they need to start generating energy from renewable resources, instead of going to fossil fuels. Every nation has significant renewable energy in some form: hydropower, sunlight, wind, agricultural biomass waste, wood, ocean wave power, etc.
But unless international laws and mechanisms promote these technologies, developing nations will not take part in these options, which are often more expensive to implement. They will instead decide to burn coal and other fossil fuels (The Skeptical Environmentallist 19). This would then defeat the purpose of proposing solutions because they would be doing the opposite of what is intended.
In conclusion, there is a lot that is needed to be done about global warming, but the change won’t happen fast. In order to minimize the consequences of global warming, these solutions must be acted upon right away in order to slow global warming. We humans are the ones ultimately responsible of this problem; so we must agree in every way to solve it before the consequences get even worse. If this is followed the world will then have converted into a primarily solar energy world, free of its dependence on fossil fuels and the harm of the environment.