Abstract
I constructed a question for this project that is currently becoming a cause for global discussion. I am very interested in the geographical aspects of our world as it is surprisingly unpredictable at times. In the past couple of years we have seen an increase in the world death toll due to natural disasters as it rose to an estimated” 68000 lives on average each year” (Relief Web). Recently the world has experienced a global debate on reducing climate change. This influenced me greatly as it proved the towering importance of this topic. I also take up History as a hobby, which also forced me to be inquisitive and ask myself if the Dinosaurs (in the Cretaceous period) became massively extinct due to global warming as there was scientific evidence that hinted at decreasing sea levels and volcanic eruptions.
The aim of this paper will be to discuss the following.
(i) What is climate change? (ii) What influences global warming? (iii) How we can prevent the harmful effects of climate change? (iv)What impact will it have on our planet? (v) How will global warming affect our lives? (vi)What is being done to fight global warming?
Introduction
This project will highlight the impacts of global warming and how we can reduce them. This topic has been a national debate recently, so it is wise to say that it can have an impact on us.
The world that we live in now currently faces one of its most complex and troublesome problem. This is known to mankind as climate change. This was once a topic that would attract debates and discussions and this is now very much accepted as a potential threat to our living by most people in our world.
“Since the last ice age”, the earth’s climate has remained stable at around 14 Degrees Celsius. “Recently the average temperature of the planet’s surface has increased by 0.89 Degrees Celsius” since 1901 (Issues online, 2012). This is because the earth has seen a rise in concentration of carbon dioxide in its atmosphere. “It is expected to have a negative impact on many ecosystems and humans across the world.” (Issues online, 2012) This is thought to bring about many notable problems such as “crop failures leading to global famine”, and it can “cause dangerously unpredictable weather.”
“The 2015 United Nations Climate Change conference (also known as COP21) was held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015” (Wikipedia, 2015-2016). The conference aimed to compose a “global agreement on the reduction of climate change” (Wikipedia, 2015-2016). On the “22nd of April 2016 a new milestone of 174 countries had signed the agreement” and began to work on this task within “their own legal system”. The expectations were to reduce global warming to less than “2 Degrees Celsius” (Paris Conference COP21 CMP, 2016)
Ms. Amber Rudd an MP and a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Climate Change, in the UK said “For any climate change agreement to be lasting and successful it must result in long-term prosperity for the planet. The move to a green economy offers a great opportunity, but to be fully realized it requires world leaders to unite to provide certainty, clarity, and confidence.
The UK is a global leader in developing cost effective policies and innovative technologies so that growth and decarbonisation can now be seen as both sides of the same coin – Paris 2015 is a singular opportunity for generations across the world to share in that future.”
The Margaret Thatcher days started the recognition of global warming. Since then we have narrowed down our options of reducing climate change to mitigation and adaptation. However the challenge is that we can’t just do one or the other. We must find a way to do both by integrating these two solutions together. The Paris conference wishes to keep the global temperature below 2 degrees because anything above 2 degrees is potentially dangerous as a continuing rise in greenhouse gases could result in many deaths. The most notable threat would be carbon dioxide which is a poisonous gas that is released most commonly in industries. Furthermore, islands such as Tuvalu will be flooded. This will lead to masses of people emigrating and people will fight over all the flooded islands of the world. (Zoe Spriggings)
Most recently a “UN review of national plans to cut carbon says they are well short of the levels needed to keep the rise in global temperatures under 2 degrees”. It is expected that by 2030 the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere will be 25% above the 2 degrees mark. This is a potential threat as a hotter climate will lead to many disasters. It will essentially not be suitable for life (BBC News)
In the run up to the US election, “Mr. Trump has described climate change as “bullshit” and a hoax designed by China to undermine the US economy”. I believe that this is extremely irrespective towards the Chinese and it is not an ideal thing to say as it is a globally renowned problem that has been proven by incidents such as the extinction of animals. However Donald Trump was quick to claim this was a joke. Hillary Clinton stated that global warming was the “most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and a world.” She also spoke on natural gas and oil production where she said “Assuming that our production stays at the levels, or even as some predict, goes higher, I do think there’s a play there”. “This is a great economic advantage, a competitive advantage, for us … We don’t want to give that up.” I would say that this is a fair approach towards mitigating the effects of our changing climate. However this is clearly not the right mindset to have as it will be extremely difficult for other nations to encourage the USA to co-operate in the fight against climate change if Hillary Clinton was President.
What is Climate Change?
“The planet’s climate has constantly been changing over geological time.” The average global temperature currently remains around 15 Degrees Celsius. However, this figure has constantly been subject to change in the past. Climate change threatens the world’s economy, climate and population “it is clear that coal, oil and gas will play a significant part in meeting the world’s energy needs for the foreseeable future, and we need to find ways to reduce their emissions” (HM Government). The current span of global warming seems to be much more rapid than before. Scientists are concerned that this natural process “is being overtaken by a rapid anthropogenic (human-induced) warming that has serious implications for the stability of the planet’s climate” (BBC NEWS, 2015). Kevin Trenberth once claimed: “Global warming is contributing to an increased incidence of extreme weather because the environment in which all storms form has changed from human activities. (Kevin Trenberth, 2011). Barrack Obama, the President of the United States of America officially stated, “that time is running out and with each passing month, year and decade the ecological debt of future generations is mounting higher and higher”. David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the UK, followed on shortly by saying “climate change is a fact. And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did”. Finally Narendra Modi the Prime Minister of India said, “fostering a sound ecological environment is vital for people’s lives and the future of our nation. Smog is affecting larger parts of China and environmental pollution has become a major problem, which is nature’s red-light warning against the model of inefficient and blind development. We must strengthen protection of the ecological environment and resolve to take forceful measures to complete this challenging task… We will declare war against pollution and fight it with the same determination we battled poverty.” (HM Government, 2015)
“The temperature is expected to keep going up, the stock market has already plunged and places such as Douglas County are expected to soon run out of drinking water” (Documentary Our Worst-Case Scenario Earth 2100 | What will happen in 2100 ? ). This will lead to extreme events such as famine and droughts. The U.S president also claims that the global warming targets “will not be met easily or in a short span of time” (Obama) .
Furthermore the subject of global warming is not just a significant increase in temperature. Many countries will “experience this rise in temperature whereas others will experience the exact opposite.” (7 INSANE Effects of Climate Change in Your Lifetime)The cold weather will be caused due to the earth melting sea ice on the jet streams. “In the U.S the jet stream acts as a barrier between the freezing Northern air and the warmer air from the South”. (7 INSANE Effects of Climate Change in Your Lifetime) (HM Government, 2015)
How do Greenhouse gases affect the climate?
The natural greenhouse effect keeps the Earth at a temperature warmer than it would be without it. The common greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour, which “behave like a blanket around our earth”. These gases allow solar energy to reach the surface of our earth. However not all of the heat is allowed to escape back into space, the greenhouse gases absorb some of the energy. This traps the heat within the atmosphere and keeps the earth “at a comfortable temperature range”. The greenhouse effect is a “natural phenomenon”. Since the industrial revolution large amounts of greenhouse gases have been released into the atmosphere due to rapid human-induced warming, hence “enhancing the greenhouse effect and pushing temperatures up globally”. (Kent Costal Communities 2150)
What impact do we have on Climate change?
The greenhouse effect makes the Earth warm enough for life. Human influence has upset the natural balance. The result of this that the Earth’s climate is changing at an abnormal rate.
The human impact on global warming can be down to the burning of fossil fuels for energy, transport and the manufacturing process, which has sparked an increase in the release of greenhouse gases such as “carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere”
Over the last one hundred years, the average global temperature has steadily increased and is continuing to rise. It is estimated that that greenhouse gas emissions rose by 70 percent between 1970 and 2004. The ten hottest years the Earth has experienced have all occurred since 1997.
The Intergovernmental Panel on climate change has stated that there is a “90% probability that the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is due to the observed increase in man-made greenhouse gas concentrations”. (IPCC )
Contributing factors to global warming
Greenhouse gases
The natural greenhouse effect helps to keep “the average surface temperature on Earth around 14 Degrees Celsius”. Without this the temperature would be around “-19 Degrees Celsius” (World Meteorological Organization)
The graph in figure 1 shows that the “amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” has increased since the “industrial revolution.” This proves that human – induced factors such as the burning of fossil fuels are solely to blame for the rapid increase. (World Meteorological Organization)
Figure 1: Concentrations of Greenhouse Gases from 0 to 2005
Aerosols in the atmosphere
“They scatter and absorb solar and infrared radiation”. The absorption of solar radiation causes the air to be directly warmed. They can also “change the microphysical and chemical properties of clouds”. (World Meteorological Organization)
Aerosols can be formed through human activity (World Meteorological Organization)
– The burning of biomass can produce “organic droplets and soot particles.”
– The manufacturing process can produce a wide variety of aerosols.
– “Exhaust emissions from transport produce a large amount of pollutants that are either aerosols from the start or they are converted to aerosols in the atmosphere through chemical reactions.
Land use change
About half of these land-use changes were estimated to be around the time of the industrial era “much of it due to replacement of forests by agricultural cropping and grazing lands over Eurasia and North America”. Hence this has led to changes into the amount of sunlight being back into space. (World Meteorological Organization)
What impact will Climate change have on our planet?
Temperature
The temperature will rise in an uneven manner over the course of time. This is largely because “human-induced warming is superimposed on a naturally varying climate”. (NASA)
Figure 2 demonstrates the evolution of our world over the course of 136-137 years. The time series above illustrates the increase in the global surface temperature since 2013. “The dark blue color indicates a temperature which is cooler than average. The dark red color indicates a temperature which is above average”. When we go down the time series, the distribution of the dark red color gets larger. This shows that the temperature is rapidly increasing over the time period and we must slow down the process. (NASA)
Figure 2: Temperature Change Timescale (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2016)
The temperature change from figure 3 to figure 4 portrays the gradual heating effect on the earth. It shows that we have seen the earth warm greatly over the course of 66 years as the second image shows a smaller distribution of the blue color and a larger spread of the orange. (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2016)
Figure 3: 2016 Figure 4: 1950
Agriculture
Climate change will have an impact on the agriculture in our world. However it can be very “complicated” (Karl Mathiesen,The Guardian) as “some crops will benefit from the higher temperatures, longer growing seasons and increased CO2.”
I can conclude from the diagrams in figure 5 that the “climate change is affecting every region of the country and critical sectors of the economy” (Tom Vilsack). “It will cause a drop in the agricultural output” (Karl Mathiesen,The Guardian) and the industry will gradually collapse.
Figure 5: Crop Yield Response to Warming in California’s Central Valley
Al Gore stated in a recent Ted Talk that “as temperatures increase the Oceans evaporate more moisture into the sky” and that as a result of this “the average humidity worldwide is going up by more than 4 percent”. This creates “atmospheric rivers in the skies”. This extra water vapor is carried across the land where “storm conditions trigger these massive record breaking downpours”. A most recent storm would be last July in Houston, Texas where it “rained for two days” with 162 billion gallons splashed out onto the land. These record downpours are creating floods and landslides, which are leading to a record number of deaths. (Al Gore, TED talk, 2016)
The weather is indeed changing and this will put much of the agriculture in our world at risk. For example China has had an increase in Sulphur dioxide emissions, which has led to acid rain. This is causing problems in farms where “the Sulphur dioxide acidifies the soil, hurting the roots of the crops that farmers are growing and reducing the total yields” ( Edwin Lau ( Assistant director of the Hong Kong branch of Friends of the Earth)). Such negative impacts can lead to social instability in acid rain hit places. These farmers in China will struggle to make a living and the food trade will be extremely low.
RISING SEA LEVELS
The global sea level has seen a major increase in the past decade. The rate at which the sea level has risen in the past ten years was “double that of the past century” (NASA). Since the last century we have seen a 17-centimeter increase in the sea level worldwide
The UK is indeed vulnerable to floods, which is an effect of climate change. The sea level is rising and we have created a Thames barrier to hold it off as much as possible as the Thames estuary is at the greatest risk.
The data in figure 6 proves that the rate of change is around 3.5 millimeters per year. This is based on collected data from 1870 to 2000. The sea level rise could be down to two factors. This could be the melting of the ice, which is heavily to do with global warming and the “expansion of sea water as it warms” (NASA). This shows that many countries are in potential danger of going underwater
Figure 6: Change in Sea Level over 120 years
MELTING OF POLAR ICE CAPS
The melting of polar ice caps is also another problem caused by global warming. The data below from NASA’s GRACE satellites provide evidence that the land ice sheets are decreasing heavily. There is sufficient evidence in the graphs to prove that “the continent of Antarctica has been losing around 134 gigatons of ice per year since 2002”, as shown in figure 8, and the Greenland ice sheets have been losing “an estimated 287 gigatons per year” as shown in figure 9 (GRACE Satellite Data) (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2016). The polar ice caps help keep the earth at a nice average temperature however the melting of polar ice caps increases the rate of global warming. The limited solar energy paves the way for cold temperatures and very little precipitation (rain or snow) which helps maintain the polar ice caps. The ice caps hold more than 75 percent of the earths’ fresh water. They melt directly into the ocean causing the volume of water to rise and it forces seas to move higher and closer to land. This puts many places such as the Republic of Maldives in figure 7 at the risk of sinking.
Figure 7: Republic of Maldives
The graphs in figures 8 and 9 show the rapid decline in ice mass due to melting over the course of four years. It creates a cause for concern as the ice is melting directly into the sea, which raises the water levels.
Figure 8: Antarctica Mass Variation Since 2002
Figure 9: Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Loss
Extreme events can also be the result of global warming. The US has experienced some record high temperatures and a decreasing number of low temperatures have been recorded. There have also been some record high levels of precipitation recently. The farmers in Nepal are currently preparing themselves for the monsoon season. Heavy rain can often lead to landslides by “loosening the earth on steep slopes” (NASA)
How is Wildlife Affected?
The Wildlife relies on healthy habitats. They require the right temperature, fresh water, food sources and places to raise their young. The rapid climate change is “altering some key elements in habitats that are critical for their survival and put all the natural resources in jeopardy”. (National Wildlife Federation)
The changing temperature will cause a warmer water temperature, which will lead to a population decline in species that require cold water to survive, and marine life will slow decrease in size. The rising water temperatures have already caused a large-scale coral bleaching leading to a “collapse of the ecosystems which require huge numbers of fish (National Wildlife Federation)
The rise in water levels is “expected to increase erosion levels”. Hence this is expected to reduce the quality of the water and therefore deteriorating the aquatic habitats. Severe drought can wipe out plants which some wildlife depend on for food and shelter. It would also cause the wildlife to dehydrate and soon die. (National Wildlife Federation)
Climate change has changed the availability for food for migratory species. This will heavily affect bird migration as they arrive on schedule to find their food such as insects, seeds, flowering plants, which have hatched or bloomed early or not at all. This can cause wildlife species such as the Gray Jay without much food stored to survive the winter. (National Wildlife Federation)
Droughts caused by global warming could “ dry up 90 percent of central U.S wetlands” this would take out breeding habitats for some migratory species such as ducks and geese. Rising sea levels would “decimate mangrove forests” and leave many wildlife such as fish without a place to “breed, feed and raise their offspring”. (National Wildlife Federation)
How does climate change impact our lives?
There will be a lot of damage to property and infrastructure. Extreme events require the repair of important infrastructure such as power lines, railway tracks and bridges. This may damage the economy greatly as these will gradually become regular events and would depend upon masses of money from the government. (Climate Hot Map UCS)
As well as having an economic impact these harmful events can also cost a large number of innocent lives. I recently interviewed Zoe Sprigging’s who works for an organization called C40 Cities. She believes that “huge areas of the world are already seeing bigger cyclones, longer droughts and hotter temperatures. These are killing thousands of people and pushing many more into poverty. For people who were already living on the edge of survival, like Ethiopian subsistence farmers, the changes in climate which have already happened have been enough to tip them into starvation.” (Zoe Sprigings)
A large loss in productivity would seem inevitable, as there would be constant disruptions in daily lives. This would cause many children to take days off school and working people to take days off work due to “more potent allergies and more air pollution”, or because of heavy rain and snowfall preventing their safe travel. The harsh weather conditions may “delay planting and harvesting which therefore affects trade”. They could also heavily affect tourism due to health and safety reasons. This will gravely hurt the economy and most countries like the Maldives, which feed off tourism, will be put into an unstable position. (Climate Hot Map UCS)
“Global warming is likely to increase the number of “climate refugees”. This may be due to people being force out of their homes because of climate related disasters. This may “spur civil unrest” amongst the people and” military intervention” will be possible. (Climate Hot Map UCS)
Health Issues (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Extreme Heat
When high temperatures are combined with relative humidity, heat waves are formed. If night temperatures do not drop, extreme heat can cause death. However the fact that winter temperatures are rising faster than summer temperatures eliminates much of the cold related diseases.
Natural Disasters
Changes in temperature and precipitation levels will challenge the health and safety of the people in our world through natural disasters. Changes in precipitation patterns can cause droughts. “For example the UK’s summer rainfall is decreasing on average, while winter rainfall is increasing” (Met Office). This will lead to dry land which will cause forest and peat fires. This will put many lives such as firefighters and residents at a huge risk. An increase in temperature would mean more moisture in the air, which would lead to heavy rainfall or flooding. Warmer Ocean waters can cause tropical hurricanes and typhoons, which could wipe a large number of the world’s population.
Poor air quality
The poor air quality is caused by “sunlight, warm air and pollution from power plants and cars burning coal and gasoline”. These all combine to produce ground-level ozone. This is smog, which is poor air quality for humans. This will lead to many potential diseases that will harm humans and cause death.
Spreading diseases
Warmer weather is expected to bring about changes in disease vectors. Insects, which stop by for the cold winters, are moving out towards the poles because they are higher latitudes. “Warmer oceans and other surface waters may also mean severe cholera outbreaks and harmful bacteria in certain types of seafood”.
What can be done to prevent the harmful effects of climate change?
I believe that there are only two main ways to reduce these effects. These are what experts call mitigation and adaptation. We must try to reduce the harmful effects, by decreasing the amount of “global warming gases going into the atmosphere” (mitigation). This would essentially mean using less fossil fuel. We must also learn to cope with the ones we cannot prevent which will become more common because we are continuing to burn more fossil fuels (adaptation). However, the real challenge is that we can’t just do one or the other. We need to do both (Zoe Sprigings).
We should aim to use more renewable energy in our lives to replace the fossil fuels this would mean the use of electric cars and biofuels as they are much cheaper and environmentally friendly.
How can we mitigate climate change? What is being done?
In March 2014 (one of the great milestones) the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), filed a report on climate change. This clearly stated that human-induced climate change was happening and the “effects are already becoming evident”. The IPCC also said that the “future changes are likely to be even more extreme, with millions of people displaced by rising sea levels and global food supplies under threat” if the level of greenhouse gases emitted continue to increase. Zero-carbon is ultimately impossible however we can mitigate the effects
The graph in figure 10 portrays the proportion of greenhouse gases emitted by different sectors of the economy. The indirect emissions on the right hand side are generated from electricity and heat.
Figure 10: Global greenhouse gas emissions by economic sectors, 2010 (Journalists Resource)
Energy Generation
The most cost effective way of reducing global warming would be reducing carbon emissions through electrical generation. The current share of low carbon electric supply is 25% and it is predicted to rise to 80% by 2050. (Coral Davenport / The New York Times)
I believe that we must start to apply the carbon tax system more regularly now. Many countries have taken on the challenge such as Canada, Ireland, Australia, Chile, Scandinavia, and Washington State. This will be a successful strategy as it makes fossil fuel users pay for all the climate damage they impose. I would also suggest increasing the tax, as it will most likely ward off some users who are not looking to spend much money.
The US environmental protection agency proposed some new power- plant rules in 2014. This urged a shutdown of coal-fired power plants. However President Obama’s potentially historic climate change legacy was faulted by claims that “soaring electric bills, power blackouts and years of legal battles” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times) would become active if they were too quick about the process as they may not have decided on an alternative source of energy. However the US remain adamant that “failure [will not be] an option” (S. William Becker). The new regulations that President Obama ordered the EPA to set in the June of 2014 was said to target 600 power plants in the United States. This could possibly be a boost in the war against climate change. However, some people felt that the regulations were “just unacceptable”. (John Lyons)
The UK energy act in 2008 “updates energy legislation to reflect upon availability of new and emerging technologies” (HM Government, 2015). I would strongly suggest the use of renewable technologies, as they are the key to “tackle climate change and deploy cleaner sources of energy as they “replace carbon-intensive energy sources and significantly reduce global warming emissions” We have aims to see “renewables grow as a proportion of our electricity supplies to 10% by 2010”. (HM Government, 2015)
The purchase of renewables has risen rapidly “and per-kilowatt prices are falling to near-parity with fossil fuels” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times). Over the course of the next 20 years annual investment in renewables are predicted to incline by $147 billion. However “fossil-fuel electrical generation capacity will decline by about $30 billion” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times). This will prove to be great news for the participants in the fight against global warming.
Industry
Reduction in emissions from the industry sector will require more mitigation options beyond the energy efficiency measures. The past few decades have seen a great deal of improvement in energy efficiency in the industry. However other strategies are also required such as emissions efficiency (including: Reducing fossil fuel use, material use efficiency (less scrap), recycling and re-use of materials, carbon dioxide capture and storage, and product surface efficiency (sharing of cars, maintaining of buildings) (IPCC ).
“In 2010, industrial uses accounted for 21% of global energy consumption and produced 13 gigatons of CO2” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times). This is why scientists have singled out human induced warming as the main cause for climate change. The energy emissions through industry are predicted to rise between 50% and 150% by 2050. However we can reduce this “sector’s energy intensity by 25% from the current level through the wide-scale adoption of currently available technologies” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times)
Businesses of any size can reduce energy emissions by including small changes such as eliminating air and steam leaks. The use of more efficient motors may also be a suitable adjustment.
Manufacturing is responsible for “35 percent of global electricity use, 20 percent of CO2 emissions, and a quarter of primary resource extraction,” however the economic importance of this sector is remarkable as it “currently accounts for 23 percent of worldwide employment”. Therefor we still need this in our world but we must make it environmentally sustainable. “Recycling heat waste and closed-cycle manufacturing can save both resources and money. Remanufacturing and reconditioning, both labor-intensive activities, can create jobs and require relatively little capital investment”. It is clear that we need some regulations within the manufacturing sector and the UNEP have been working on this. They have introduced the “Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production programme,” and the “OzonAction programme”. (Climate Change Mitigation)
In the food manufacturing industry the “productivity of crops and livestock” may decline due to very high temperatures and droughts. Places that require “rain-fed agriculture may require irrigation” which will bring about higher costs and brawls over access to water. The seasonal rainfall patterns are changing and there are some occasions of severe precipitation. This will lead to delay in planting and harvesting. Warmer water also acts as a major threat to human consumption as there is an increasing risk of infectious diseases. (Climate Hot Map UCS)
Transportation
The transportation sector is responsible for a large amount for our global climate changing emissions. It is estimated that around “15% of man-made carbon dioxide comes from cars, trucks, ships and any other vehicles” (Centre for Biological Diversities). Global warming can be reduced if our world attempts to “shift away from fossil fuel powered vehicles” and start using alternative fuels and possibly public transport. I believe that “strict emissions reduction and fuel economy policies” are required in order to dramatically reduce the pollution. (Centre for Biological Diversities)
“By 2050, new mass-transit infrastructure and urban redevelopment” could potentially take the final energy demand “40% below the baseline” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times). This is an improvement over the realistic prediction in the IPCC’s 4th assessment on climate change where it stated that “projected energy efficiency and vehicle performance improvements range from 30% to 50% in 2030 relative to 2010 depending on transport mode and vehicle type” (IPCC ). (Coral Davenport / The New York Times)
There is also a great deal of pollution from vehicles of air and sea. The Centre for Biological Diversities, which is a US based organization, recently revealed that aircraft contribute to 12% of CO2 emissions in their nation. Air vessels also release nitrogen oxides rather than nitrous oxides and cause rapid warming when they are emitted at a high elevation. Sea vessels release 3% of the world’s CO2. This is around the figure that nearly all of Canada emits. The Centre recently revealed that the Bush Administration rejected their 2007 petitions to reduce emissions from air and sea vessels (Centre for Biological Diversities). They have now filed a “notice of intent to sue unless the Environmental Protection Agency addresses global warming pollution from these sources” (Centre for Biological Diversities). This shows that some organizations care for our world, however some politicians do not.
“Approximately 85% of transportation sector emissions are related to the surface transportation system”. A successful strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would require “improved fuel economy, reduced carbon content in fuels, and reductions in the growth of vehicle miles of travel”. One solution would be to use public transport as it reduces energy consumption and potentially dangerous CO2 greenhouse gas emissions that harm the environment. It also produces less pollution compared to private vehicles. Therefore public transport is a straightforward option for reduces gas emissions in the transportation sector. (The Benefits of Public Transportation)
Carbon tax is also a solution here, as they will encourage users to adopt an environmentally friendly approach and move to modes of transport that uses less carbon. A common example would be electric cars. These hybrid and plug in vehicles reduce the dependence on imported petroleum. They use less fuel and boost efficiency, which is a great option for reducing use of fossil fuels.
Buildings
The “building sector was responsible for about 32% of final energy use and 8.8 gigatons of direct and indirect CO2 emissions in 2010” (Coral Davenport / The New York Times). This sector is projected to double its energy demand and its CO2 emissions to increase by 50% to 150% in 2050.
The most cost effective way of reducing these emissions would be by following the green-building standards as they have proved to be effective in most developed countries by stabilizing the total energy demands. (Coral Davenport / The New York Times)
We can add components to existing buildings in order to reduce energy use by 50% to 90% of global emissions in this sector “Recent large improvements in performance and costs make very low energy construction and retrofits economically attractive, sometimes even at net negative costs.” (IPCC )
“The UK residential sector can deliver a 60% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, in line with the targets outlined in UK Government’s 2003 Energy White Paper”. The efficiency of the UK housing stock should
improve substantially by 2050 if all new and existing household are installed with “energy efficient appliances and lighting. Some key technology used would be “vacuum insulated panels” (VIP) and “light emitting diodes” (LED). Space and water heating must be revolutionized and each household must be installed with low and zero carbon technologies (LZC). This would be ideal “to meet total residential electricity demand from low-carbon sources and turn the residential sector into a net exporter of electricity by 2045” (University Of Oxford).