Download Rutgers Model Congress 2009

Rutgers Model Congress 2009
Idaho Democrat
Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works
Climate Change
Vivian Wang
Moravian Academy
We are living at the center of a perilous chemical experiment, the consequences of which
had not become apparent to the international community until the First World Climate
Conference of 1979. The conference spurred the beginning of one of the biggest, most intensely
debated issue of today: climate change. Furthermore, it was suggested for the first time that
perhaps this altering of Earth’s climate may not be spontaneous, but rather caused by its people.1
The foremost contributor to global warming: automobiles. In 1968, the United States
reached an automotive milestone with 100,546,000 automobiles and trucks for 199,399,000
resident Americans. The numbers for 2006 are even more startling with 225,087,000 Americans
aged 18 or older with 234,525,000 passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks, and not to mention
8,819,000 heavy trucks at their disposal.2 Each year, U.S. autos emit more than 333 million tons
of the carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the air.3 Greenhouse gases are gases in an
atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range and are essential to
helping determine the temperature of the Earth. However, human activities have had major
impacts on the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which had other effects on the
Earth with their own possible repercussions. The most recent assessment report compiled by the
IPCC observed that "changes in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols,
land cover and solar radiation alter the energy balance of the climate system", and concluded that
"increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations is very likely to have caused most of
the increases in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century".4 Based on plausible
emission scenarios, the IPCC estimates that average surface temperatures could rise between 2°C
and 6°C by the end of the 21st century.5
Carbon dioxide has been rising since the time of James Watt, inventor of the autocontrolled steam engine that helped jump-start the Industrial Revolution. Since the 18th century,
1
US House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, The state of climate change science 2007 : hearings before the Committee on
Science and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, February 8, April 17, and May 15, 2007.
2http://www.laprogressive.com/2009/02/19/finally-too-many-cars/
3http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1135
4http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf
there has been a marked increase in the emission of greenhouse gases (mainly carbon dioxide), in
proportion to industrial expansion, which hinged on coal and oil as the key fuel. Power plants,
for example, emit billions of tons of carbon dioxide each year from burning of fossil fuels for the
purpose of electricity generation. In 2002 about 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions stem from
the burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal accounts for 93 percent
of the emissions from the electric utility industry.6
After carbon emissions caused by humans, deforestation is the second principle cause of
atmospheric carbon dioxide.7 Deforestation is responsible for 20-25% of all carbon emissions
entering the atmosphere, by the burning and cutting of about 34 million acres of trees each year.8
We are losing millions of acres of rainforests each year, the equivalent in area to the size of
Italy. The destroying of tropical forests alone is throwing hundreds of millions of tons of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere each year. We are also losing temperate forests. The temperate
forests of the world account for an absorption rate of 2 billion tons of carbon annually.8 In the
temperate forests of Siberia alone, the earth is losing 10 million acres per year.8
For hundreds of thousands of years, human beings and their predecessors have both
deliberately and accidentally altered their environments. But only recently, with the harnessing
of fossil fuels, has humankind made changes as drastic as devastating on the air, water, soils,
plants, and animals. Due to global warming, 400, 000 square miles of Arctic sea ice have melted
in the last 30 years.9 15% - 37% of plant and animal species could be wiped out by global
warming by 2050.9 The intensity and duration of hurricanes and tropical storms has increased by
100% since the 1970's, according to a 2005 MIT study.9 Looking at these colossal figures, one
cannot help but wonder why the Senate and House has passed 0 global warming bills.10
5
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/global_warming_update5.php6US Emissions Inventory 2004 Executive Summary p. 10
website
8http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm
9http://www.how-to-stop-global-warming.com/global-warming-facts.html
10http://sustainablog.org/2009/02/13/environmental-defense-fund-global-warming-by-the-numbers-13-scary-facts/
7NASA
The amount of fuel consumed by motor vehicles governs how much carbon dioxide
enters the atmosphere: the more gasoline burned, the more carbon dioxide released.
Subsequently, automobiles must become more fuel efficient. For the last decade, however, the
fuel-economy standards for motor vehicles have stagnated. In addition, low gas prices have
helped create a market for gas-guzzling light trucks such as sport-utility vehicles and minivans,
which have actually led to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Increasing fuel efficiency is a
cost-effective and technologically feasible method to address the threat of global warming,
benefit our economy, and protect public health. To do this, government policies must strengthen
fuel-efficiency standards (CAFE) for all passenger vehicles and support the development and
marketing of advanced vehicles like battery electrics, hybrid electrics, and fuel cells. Using
conventional, gasoline-combustion technology can only decrease carbon dioxide pollution so
much. The large-scale carbon dioxide savings that are necessary require a shift to renewable
fuels. These fuels, because they are not produced from high-carbon fossil fuels, have lower
carbon emissions. To encourage this shift, government policies should provide incentives for
research and development of renewable fuels and encourage investment in renewable fuels and
the necessary infrastructure through methods like tax incentives.
Increasing energy consumption and a growing world population implies shrinking
reserves of fossil fuels, while use of fossil fuels brings with it the problem of carbon dioxide
emissions and climate change. Our continued dependence on fossil fuels coupled with the
pressing global issue of climate change has pushed the concept of renewable energy sources to
the top of the agenda. Christopher and Yanni Koroneos of the Laboratory of Heat Transfer and
Environmental Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece tested three
viable renewable energy resources: solar energy, wind power and geothermal energy. They
applied the techniques of life cycle assessment (LCA) to each in order to determine the total
environmental impact and to compare this with the effects of equivalent energy release from
fossil fuels. The LCA approach allows an assessment to be made of the flow of material and
energy used in the construction, operation and ultimate decommissioning of a renewable energy
supply. It also takes into account the manufacturing of components, the possible extraction and
supply of fuels as well as waste generated in these processes. 11 The researchers demonstrated
that some renewable energy systems based on wind power and geothermal energy do have valid
“green” credentials in electricity production. The efficiency of these systems is comparable over
the complete life cycle than the equivalent fossil fuel system. The conversion of solar energy to
electricity using photovoltaic solar cells may be less efficient in terms of materials production,
running, and recycling than non-renewable energy. However, in the long run, solar power and a
large enough area of solar cells would surpass the fossil fuel system.
Over the last two centuries, human activity has distorted the chemistry of Earth’s water
and air, altered the face of Earth itself, and rewoven the web of life. Why has this time period,
more than any other, brought so much widespread environmental change? The reasons are many
and complex, but a major influence is the use of fossil fuels, which has made far more energy
available to more people than had ever been available before for the price of global warming. It
seems to be that the human influence on the earth's natural balance will only lead to devastation.
As inhabitants of this planet, we cannot seal our fate in rising temperatures, but rather we must
counter it with a new generation of fuel efficient vehicles and renewable energy systems. We
need to stop viewing the natural world as something that we can exploit, and start thinking of it
as something that is crucial to our very existence. We have but one Earth, one chance.
11
http://www.environment.co.za/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=113110http://sustainablog.org/2009/02/13/environmental-defense-fund-global-warming-by-thenumbers-13-scary-facts/