Download Tommy Shao Humanities 58` Global Issues Research Paper Dec 8

Tommy Shao
Humanities 58’
Global Issues Research Paper
Dec 8, 2015
Global Issues: Climate Action
Target: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on
climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
“Someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at us in the eye and
they’ll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this
problem and leave them a cleaner, safe, more stable world?” The United States President,
Barack Obama questioned (Climate Change). Climate change is an issue that has been
debated repeatedly over the last century. Going unnoticed, this issue rises from a trivial
problem to a major topic needing world attention. Since the Industrial Revolution in the
late 1800’s, there has been documented change in the climate patterns globally; today
these changes impact people’s lives, which leads to the dire need for immediate action.
Over the last century climate change soured from being a minor issue into a vital
problem that affects everyone’s lives. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution marks
the start of this mass production of pollution, which leads to climate change. Then World
War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII) succeeded the Industrial Revolution, where the
bombing and coal burning deepens this issue by contributing harmful gases into the
atmosphere. After these major events, the population rapidly grows as the economy
develops and peace is regained. There hasn’t been a definite date when climate change
started. It is debatable that air quality conditions have worsened dramatically since the
Industrial Revolution began. According to BBC News, in 1712 Thomas Newcomen
invented the first steam engine, which opened the road to the Industrial Revolution that
began around 1760 and raised the industrial use of coal. Then in 1800 the world
population reaches 1 billion.
At first, the rise of the world population was rather steady but then it started to
become more rapid (“A brief history of climate”). During the period when the world
population reaches 2 billion in 1930, 2 major events happen which contributed colossal
amounts of harmful gases into the atmosphere, WWI and WWII.
WWI began in 1914 and ended in 1918 and following WWII began in 1939 to
1945. During the period of the 2 wars, large amounts of bombs detonated, ammunition
produced and fired, construction of war machines and the relocation of armies created
unimaginable measures of gases. As the world population reaches 7 billion in 2011, the
air pollution and world temperature continued rise but yet, many people haven’t realized
it. “We can choose to believe that super storm sandy, and the most severe droughts in
decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all a freak coincidence.
Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment – and act before it’s too late.”
– President Obama of science (Cutting Carbon Pollution in America). One of the most
terrorizing truths about climate change is that as governments realize the devastations of
climate change, they are not doing anything about it. With the population rise, the
demand for an increase in products led to the overwhelming production of waste. The
demand for more goods requires the need for institutional advancements that leads to an
added amount of gas emissions that are released into the atmosphere. Later as more
research was done, nations realized that no country could fight this issue as individuals.
As a result, finally in 1992 nations gathered and discussed the importance of cutting their
countriey’s gas emission production. Then in 1997 all 192 countries except Afghanistan,
US and Sudan signed the Kyoto Protocol (history documentary - Climate). This treaty to
cut gas emissions was the closest thing the world have accomplished to a working global
agreement to battle climate change. One of the most important and essential components
to fight climate change is that the population needs to understand and be educated on the
issue they are assaulting.
Over the last century, climate change rose from a trivial problem to a major issue
that demands world contribution. Situations will only keep getting worse if the
population remains to act the same. Climate change effects have slowly built up over the
century and are strongly present today.
For 650,000 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels had never been above 300,
but the current level is 400 (“Climate Change how do we know”). With each updated
report from scientist, climate change is only getting worse. Without many knowing,
climate change is affecting the world much more than we think it is. Today, the global
temperature has rose 1.4 Fahrenheit since 1880, the land ice is melting 287 billion metric
tons each year and sea levels are rising 3.24 mm per year (“Global Climate Change”).
One of the most visual ways to see climate change is through the dramatic change in
natural disasters and weather patterns. “The first decade of the 21st century saw 3,496
natural disasters from floods, storms, droughts and heat waves. That was nearly five
times as many disasters as the 743 catastrophes reported during the 1970s – and all of
those weather events are influenced by climate change”(“8 ways climate change”). In the
1970s heat waves were not even considered as a threat, but now in 2010 it is one of the
main causes of death in catastrophes. An example was in 2010, when the heat
wave in Russia resulted in the death of more than 55,000 people. Climate change is the
cause for the Australia Wildfires in 2013, Russian Drought in 2012, Guatemala Coffee
Rust in 2012, Pakistan flood in 2013, Philippines typhoon and countless other disasters
(“5 Natural Disasters”). Every single one of these natural disasters caused by climate
change act like a warning for the nations and their decisions on climate action.
Many nations today are playing leading roles in the war against climate change,
but the countries economy plays a major part in their decision-making and plans. Any
form of method to start battling against climate change requires immense amount of
money and will definitely cut down on countries’ economic growth and advancement.
Which leads to the decision making of whether to sacrifice their own countries’ economic
development or to play a part in worldwide climate action. Today the United States,
Canada and Mexico are playing the leading roles in climate action. America has decided
on 3 major targets, which can each be split down into there own category of goals. The
first major target is to cut carbon pollution in America by paving a path towards a clean
energy economy. “President Obama has taken a series of common-sense steps to curb
carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases through initiatives that drive energy
efficiency, promote clean energy, and put in place the first-ever carbon pollution
standards for power plants.” (Cutting Carbon Pollution in America) The second goal
President Obama has identified is preparing for the impacts of climate change by building
a more climate–resilient America. Climate change is not so distant, USA have already
felt its impacts as weather gets more extreme, droughts, wildfires and floods are
becoming more frequent and fierce. With these reasons countries, states and communities
across the USA are taking steps towards preparing for the effects of climate change
(Cutting Carbon Pollution in America). The final target set by the United States is to lead
an international effort to combat global climate change. In addition to the USA’s goals,
Canada has also set 4 major targets for the country to work towards. These major goals
are to first take actions to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), second is to
invest to help Canadians adapt to a changing climate, third is to have Canada develop a
world-class scientific research and lastly is leadership in international climate change
efforts (“Canada’s Action on Climate”). The governments of many countries are working
intensely to develop solutions and targets. As simple as it sounds, it is the population
action that will actually make a change, which again leads to the desperate need for
raising awareness.
Raising awareness is more or less one of the most important elements of climate
action. Without the correct attitude and knowledge, the citizens of the nations will rarely
cooperate with government acts and laws to fight climate change. “Education is an
essential element of the global response to climate change. It helps young people
understand and address the impact of global warming, encourages changes in their
attitudes and behavior and helps them adapt to climate change-related trends.”
(UNESCO). A most efficient and effective way to educate students is through the
influence of teachers. “Encouraging innovative teaching approaches to integrate climate
change education in school and by raising awareness about climate change as well as
enhancing non-formal education programs through media, networking and partnerships.”
(UNESCO). Education is only one of many ways to raise awareness; another crucial
method to spread awareness is by cooperating with international medias.
With the most current-status of climate change on news medias worldwide, it
motivates people to start acting towards reducing carbon emissions. In regards to raising
awareness, countless programs and organizations have developed to fight the issue and
informing others to do so. One organization called CDP, for over a decade has worked to
tackle climate change (Our Climate Change Work). This programs primary target is to
reduce companies’ greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change risk. “The
CDP system has helped move climate change and energy efficiency onto the business
radar and into mainstream business thinking. Companies are better able to understand
how to protect themselves from the impacts of climate change and become more energy
efficient.” (“Our Climate Change Work”). CDP believes that a real world transformation
of the global economic system is required in order to achieve the scale of change that will
limit global warming and prevent catastrophic climate change. Vast amounts of work and
effort has been put into the awareness raising of climate change, but again, it is the
citizens that must act in order for there to be success.
Recognizing the goals, targets, laws and effort done by the governments of
nations and programs it could only get us so far. It is the solutions that will bring all the
work into play and further extent the possibilities for success against this war between
climate changes.
To fight climate change, some actions that might be enforced are to forego fossil
fuels, transportation efficiency and energy efficiency. Forego fossils fuels means to
reduce or exterminate the production gas emissions by coal and oil. “This is perhaps the
most daunting challenge as denizens of richer nations literally eat, wear, work, play and
even sleep on the products made from such fossilized sunshine. And citizens of
developing nations want and arguably deserve the same comforts, which are largely
thanks to the energy stored in such fuels.” (Biello). Coal and oils is so heavily used, as it
is fundamental to many people’s daily, which is why it is very difficult to eliminate. “Oil
is the lubricant of the global economy, hidden inside such ubiquitous items as plastic and
corn, and fundamental to the transportation of both consumers and goods. Coal is the
substrate, supplying roughly half of the electricity used in the U.S. and nearly that much
worldwide—a percentage that is likely to grow, according to the International Energy
Agency.” (Biello). In addition, an effective method to reduce these harmful gases is to
have all nations sign a regulating harmful gases emission treaty and to have them enforce
laws to change citizen behaviors. When this solution is acted upon it greatly contributes
to the steps towards reducing global warming and pollution.
With every gallon of gasoline burned it produces 20 pounds of CO2,
transportation is one of top leading greenhouse gas emission producers. This trouble that
produces so much gases, can easily be avoided or reduced with the appropriate action and
attitude. “One way to dramatically curtail transportation fuel needs is to move closer to
work, use mass transit, or switch to walking, cycling or some other mode of transport that
does not require anything other than human energy. There is also the option of working
from home and telecommuting several days a week.” (Biello). This solution is much
more complicated than said as people won’t free willingly cooperate. Even if some
people don’t agree in moving at least they could try to switch to walking or cycling when
going to destinations not far away. In addition to the efficiency in transportation,
lessening long- distance travelling will also significantly cut down on gas emissions.
“Cutting down on long-distance travel would also help, most notably airplane flights,
which are one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions and a source
that arguably releases such emissions in the worst possible spot (higher in the
atmosphere)” (Biello). Adding on to its already terrifying impact, airplanes are also one
of the few sources of global warming solution in which there isn’t a possible alternative
for. In conclusion, this sources of greenhouse gas emission can be relatively easy to
eliminate if only there can be action contributed by the citizens.
In addition, global apathy to leaving power devices running when not in use
contributes to this issue. Therefore, another way to solve this problem might be to
purchase energy efficient gadgets. For example, “…efficient battery chargers could save
more than one billion kilowatt-hours of electricity—$100 million at today's electricity
prices—and thus prevent the release of more than one million metric tons of greenhouse
gases” (Biello). A large majority of the population still does not understand how much
electricity efficiency can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions being released
into the atmosphere. Saving both energy and money, as many people have yet to realize,
can also directly relate to the reduction of harmful gases.
Shall the solutions above fail, there is still one potentially desperate solution
against climate change, experiment Earth. This result is to possibly make an invention
that may reduce the pace of the entire issue. “So-called geoengineering, radical
interventions to either block sunlight or reduce greenhouse gases, is a potential last resort
for addressing the challenge of climate change” (Biello). Taking this challenge scientist
has already come up with some possible ideas on inventions. “Among the ideas: releasing
sulfate particles in the air to mimic the cooling effects of a massive volcanic eruption;
placing millions of small mirrors or lenses in space to deflect sunlight; covering portions
of the planet with reflective films to bounce sunlight back into space; fertilizing the
oceans with iron or other nutrients to enable plankton to absorb more carbon; and
increasing cloud cover or the reflectivity of clouds that already form.” This is an example
of a possible method to reducing as much sunlight as possible from reaching the planet. If
people still do not agree to reduce gas emissions, the world will be forced to block
sunlight, which would slow the pace of global warming, but significantly affect the daily
lives of the world. The thought of Earth without a sun terrifies the population but in the
end it is us who caused it.
To fight climate change, actions and regulations must be enforced on the public in
order for possible solutions to be effective. Every single solution is somehow related to
public action, without civilian effort no progress can be made in the war against climate
change. If the world continues to act like it is currently, temperatures will continue to
ascend, sea levels steadily rise, pollution will worsen, natural disasters will only get more
vicious, the world we know today most likely won’t be recognizable in 2050. President
Obama once said, “We need scientists to design new fuels. We need farmers to help grow
them. We need engineers to invent new technologies. We need entrepreneurs to sell those
technologies. We need workers to operate assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zerocarbon components. We need builders to hammer into place the foundations for a clean
energy age. We need diplomats and businessmen and women, and Peace Corps
volunteers to help developing nations skip past the dirty phase of development and
transition to sustainable sources of energy. In other words, we need you” (“Our 10
favorite climate”).
Works Cited
Biello, David. "10 Solutions for Climate Change." Scientific America: n. pag. Print.
"A brief history of climate change." BBC News: n. pag. Print.
"Canada's Action on Climate Change." Government of Canada: n. pag. Print.
"Climate Change and President Obama's Action Plan." The White House: n. pag. Print.
"Climate Change How do We Know." NASA: n. pag. Print.
"Cutting Carbon Pollution in America." The White House: n. pag. Print.
"8 ways climate change is making the world more dangerous." The Guardian: n. pag.
Print.
Field, Chris. "Obama is right on Climate Change." CNN: n. pag. Print.
"5 Natural Disasters that beg for climate action." OXFAM international: n. pag. Print.
"Global Climate Change." NASA: n. pag. Print.
"International Climate Policy." Nature Reports: n. pag. Print.
Ngosa, Stanslous. "Climate Change Education Fiar Effects." Africa News Service: n. pag.
Print.
"Our climate change work." CDP: n. pag. Print.
UNESCO. "Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development at UNESCO."
UNESCO: n. pag. Print.
"What is Climate Change." Department of Ecology: n. pag. Print.
"Our 10 favorite climate quotes by President Barack Obama 2014." Climate Action
Reserve: n. pag. Print.