I take the stance that reducing carbon dioxide emissions will help stop global warming only if they are drastically reduced by 50% or more. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, which means that it traps the infrared radiation from the sun as it is reflected back from the Earth. This means that the more greenhouse gases there are in the atmosphere, the more heat will be trapped by them resulting in higher temperatures. The people who say that global warming is not happening must look at the facts that there have been more and more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, resulting in more heat trapped by them and therefore an increase in the overall temperature (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html). Carbon Dioxide levels are at an all-time high according to Mauna Loa Observatory based in Hawaii meaning that something needs to be done to reduce those levels (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/20/tech/main607629.shtml).
The current set of guidelines for lowering greenhouse gas emissions is the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol calls for a 5% lowering of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels in the period of 2008-2012 (http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol /items/2830.php). The Kyoto Protocol is flawed
because the requirements will not really affect the total amount of greenhouse gases in the air as those levels will rise anyway. In addition, the Kyoto Protocol is non-binding to countries that did not ratify it, like the United States. This shows that there needs to be some steps taken to force countries to bind to a strategy to slow down or even reverse global warming (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/20/tech/main607629.shtml).What needs to be done is to change the way carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have been rising since the start of the Industrial Revolution around 1850. The graph to the left shows the exponential rise in carbon dioxide levels since 1850. There are about 6.1 million metric tones of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere every year and only about 2.9 million metric tons of it are absorbed by plants resulting in the addition of 3.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggccebro/chapter1.html). If the world was able to cut carbon dioxide emissions to only 2.9 million metric tons per year, the levels of the gas will stay about the same, but if the world is able to release less than 2.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide the effects of increased greenhouse gases will be eventually diminished resulting in the reversal of global warming.
Even if global warming does not exist reducing carbon emissions would be beneficial to everyone in the world as they would start breathing in cleaner air. They would also switch from a wasteful and inefficient lifestyle to an efficient lifestyle that helps not only themselves but other people, plants, animals and the world.
2 comments:
It's too bad that the US is too stubborn to even make a small change, like the kyoto protocol, to actually combat this change. The US is not very responsible in the aim to reduce emissions, as both the US and Australia use coal for energy (more than any other countries), which causes large amounts of carbon dioxide to be released in the air. We all need to find more efficient ways to generate energy, run cars, and run general factories before the situation gets even worse.
Response to jatate:
I believe that the countries that are in power need to take a leadership role in stopping the release of carbon into the air. They need to start leading by example so the smaller and poorer countries in the world follow suit. The countries of power also need to start using their resources to find new ways of harnessing energy, something that is not being given much thought today.
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