Words: 1560
After the horrible hurricane attacked the U. S. A, more and more people consider the environmental problems as the most serious problem which human beings have to face in the twenty-first century. If humans keep standing by from protecting nature, then global warming will be the natural consequence of their inaction. Accordingly, people must try to find some suitable ways to prevent this situation. Currently, the three most efficient solutions of this problem are a moratorium of deforestation, a universal carbon tax and international cooperation.
Global warming is a tendency which there is an increase in earth’s surface temperature which is caused by excess greenhouse gas emissions. The phenomena of this problem are the change of global climate, the melting of ice cap and the increase in sea level. A research organization reported that “in the 20th century the average global surface temperature has increased by 0. 6??0. 2? and the average sea level has risen by 0. 1 to 0. 2 metres. Snow cover has decreased by 10 percent since the 1960s”(Gupta & Tol, 2003, p. 19). After research, scientists discovered some causes of global warming.
First, they found that burning of fossil fuels caused the rise in the release of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases include “Carbon dioxide (CO2)”, “Methane (CH4)”, “Nitrous oxide (N2O)”, “Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)”, “Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)” and “Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)”(KYOTO PROTOCOL, 1997, Annex A). The major element of greenhouse gases is the carbon dioxide. The fact is the carbon dioxide which is formed during the process of burning fossil fuels holds the sun’s heat in the atmosphere, so the temperature of earth’s surface keeps increasing. Another important reason for global warming is unlimited deforestation.
The trees can separate the carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen during the process of photosynthesis when they are alive, but, more important, the subsoil of the forests contains a huge amount of carbon, and this carbon will form the carbon dioxide after people cut down the trees. The effect of carbon dioxide is that it will absorb the heat both from the earth’s surface and the sun, and then block and reflect heat to the earth’s surface. Consequently, the major reason of global warming is the carbon dioxide emission. Nowadays, global warming is becoming more and more serious.
The debate around how to solve this problem eventually gets some solutions. There are three most efficient ways to solve the problem of global warming. The first one is a worldwide moratorium on deforestation. Effectively controlling use of forest and land is pertinent way to reduce releasing carbon dioxide, so it will efficiently limit the greenhouse effect which is caused by carbon dioxide emission. The “Terrestrial Carbon Sink” is a notion which can consider that the forests and soil can be storage of carbon. Carbon is a basic element in the nature which can be formed from CO2, CH4, HFCs and PFCs.
These four compounds are included in greenhouse gases. This means if carbon can be stored by forests and soil, the greenhouse gases also will be controlled. Ierland (2003, p. 161), a professor of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, said that “Carbon sequestration and biomass offer the opportunity to slow down the increase in atmospheric [carbon dioxide] concentration considerably. ” He also stated that “[i]t is possible to store up to about 1 to 2 Gt [carbon per year] in vegetation (especially trees) and soils of the terrestrial biosphere and related products. Secondly, a universal carbon tax is another currently famous means which some countries use to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions. Limiting the emission of greenhouse gases by law set equally for all users worldwide. This would achieve a given reduction in the use of carbon at the lowest cost. For example, factories would get a fine if they released more carbon dioxide than the limited amount by law. The power of law will efficiently control the greenhouse gas emissions caused by industrial companies. The meaning of carbon tax or a domestic carbon trade are: Each country reaches the emission targets or assigned amounts domestically, i. . international emission permit trading, joint implementation, and the Clean Development Mechanisms are ruled out. The policy instruments chosen here to achieve emission reductions are a domestic [carbon dioxide] trading system or carbon taxes. Under the domestic trading system, all energy users are allowed and able to trade emission permits, including individual households, and trading is assumed to be implemented efficiently and with very low transaction costs. The government auctions an amount of emission permits initially, which is equal to the national quota or assigned amount specified in the Kyoto Protocol. Bartsch & Muller, 2000, p. 214) Finally, the most important and efficient solution is global cooperation in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. In 1997, an agreement was assigned in Kyoto which named the Kyoto Protocol by some developed countries. The source and the main feature of the Kyoto Protocol are that: With the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, an international process was set in motion which led to the drafting of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. In this Protocol, a number of countries commit themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to an aggregate level below the baseline of 1990.
Commitments apply to countries listed in an annex to the Protocol, the so-called Annex I countries. These make up the industrialised world, i. e. the members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and countries in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Reductions are to be achieved for the First Commitment Period covering the years 2008-2012. (Bartsch & Muller, 2000, p. 1) It is a protocol for the worldwide prevention of global warming. For instance, it provided a standard of greenhouse gas emissions each member country should achieve.
These solutions will be used in the future to efficiently prevent global warming. Unfortunately, there still are some objections to international cooperation. The first objection is that the different views of countries make the global protocol fragile. The evidence is that the U. S. exited the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001 since they thought the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions will hurt national economy. Some scientists in the U. S. pointed out that it will effect the development of industry because the standard limits the carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, two economic consulting companies, WEFA Inc. nd DRI/McGraw Hill Inc. pointed out that “the US GDP [Gross Domestic Product] could take an annual hit of nearly 3% of GDP [Gross Domestic Product], or about US$250 billion a year ??? with intra-nation emissions trading. Plus the trade deficit would increase by tens of billions of dollars; gasoline prices would increase by nearly 50 cents a gallon; electricity prices would nearly double; and two million US jobs would disappear. “(Shogren, 2000, p. 28) Another important objection is the different development levels of countries limit the performance of cooperation.
It is not fair to set uniform standards for the countries among the developed, developing and underdeveloped. The developed countries have advanced technologies and equipment which can help them achieve the assigned target easily, but the developing and underdeveloped countries would have to invest much more money to develop these technologies. Hence, some disagreements were caused by whether a country has enough development and money to implement global warming prevention. These inconsistent make the Protocol and global negotiations fall into a freezing area.
In conclusion, the future of our planet depends on how people deal with the global warming issue. After discussion and research, humans presently have some ways to prevent the global warming issue which are afforestation, carbon taxation and global negotiation. People should not satisfy these few measures of preventing global warming, and never give up on continuing study for new methods of saving our planet. No one wants their children living in a place where the temperature is 50? and people inhabit an artificial island on the ocean.
On the other hand, counties should pay more attention on how to do global participation well and begin to share their own knowledge about global warming. From the genesis of human history, it is a history of human versus nature. Now, the nature gives people another but not the last challenge, which is the global warming issue. Human beings should fight global warming together and prepare a long term plan for the sake of their children. The history will have one more milestone which will be engraved with the success of humans saving our planet. Works Cited Bartsch U. and Muller B. 2000). Fossil fuels in a changing climate. (p. 1 & pp. 214-215). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gupta J. and Tol R. S. J. (2003). Why reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Reasons, issue-linkages and dilemmas. In Ierland E. C. Gupta J. and Kok M. T. J. (Eds. ), Issues in international climate policy. Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Shogren J. (2000). Benefits and costs of Kyoto. In Carraro C. (Eds. ), Efficiency and equity of climate change policy. (p. 28) London: Kluwer academic publishers. Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations framework convention on climate change. 1997). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved date: Nov. 15, 2005, from http://unfccc. int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng. html No consensus on global warming policy (1997, November 27). Cable News Network. Retrieved date: Nov. 15, 2005, from http://edition. cnn. com/SPECIALS/1997/global. warming/disagreements/ You can fight global warming, authors urge. (2003, April 22). National Geographic News. Retrieved date: Nov. 15, 2005, from http://news. nationalgeographic. com/news/2003/04/0422_030422_conservationtips. html