In his book, The United States of Excess, Robet L.Paarlberg says, “Per capita carbon-dioxide emissions in the United States are roughly twice the average for the rest of the wealthy world (defined here as the 34 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD)” (7). Contrasting the situation with the wealthy world is enough to realize that the USA has a serious problem of carbon-dioxide emission. If we compare the emission with a poor developing nation like Nepal, the problem is much clearer or, precisely, scary. CO2 emission in metric tons per capita for the United States in 2005 was close to 20 (Brooks 27). Moreover, in 2013, the measurement for the USA was still 16.4 while that for Nepal was 0.2 (“CO2 Emissions (Metric Tons per Capita)”). The figures show that the USA emitted 82 times the carbon emitted by Nepal on a per capita basis. With all the focus towards competing industrially with other wealthy countries, consequently, the USA has not had enough attention towards the resulting problem from carbon emission. Instead, this competition has added up to the emission of more amount of carbon. The difference in technological advancements, education system, and the people’s lifestyles in the two countries is the main reason for the higher per capita carbon emission in the USA. Undoubtedly, the USA is one of the leading countries based on technological and industrial advancements in the world. Resource abundance and low population in
Comedian Robert Orben joked, “There is so much pollution in the air now that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all.” As Homer Simpson famously said, this joke is “funny because it’s true.” The pollution of Earth has been going on for decades, but recently scientists have been pushing very hard for practices that do not harm our planet. In 2006, the first Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was published, ranking countries on how well they are protecting Earth with their policies and practices. Who doesn’t love a little competition? One would think America would love a competition, looking at their competitive market economy. But America is not faring well in this environmental competition.
U.S.A. ranks number 1 in an industrial country as well. So there is another debate,
Since the Gilded Age when industries became more powerful, the United States has been one of the countries with the biggest effects on nature. The levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have increased radically and are already affecting the Antarctic, our seaboards, and our climate. Even with the evidence provided by the scientists documenting
Going back to the end of World War I the United States was the most flourishing country in the world with the highest standard of living. Almost everything consumed in the United States was produced in the country and also manufactured more goods than Britain, France, and Germany combined. The U.S was the number one in pioneering and fabricating capital of the world for about 90 years but it all ended in 2010. According to the United Nations China became the number one nation with manufacturing value reaching about 3 trillion in comparison to the United States 2.2 trillion. Most of the research and development funds in this country goes to manufacturing (American Manufacturing (2012, March 30)).
The America I believe in is also a technological giant. America continuously leads the way in technological advancements such as nuclear energy and computers. Examples of America's technological advancements is the IPhone. Windows and energy has continued to make American lives better. Many other technological advancements is NASA and rocket science those two things alone including the government made it possible to go to the moon and maybe later we can go
Carbon taxing coal-based products, in a revenue-neutral way, will help discourage overuse of fossil fuels. The United States needs to reduce carbon emissions in order to avoid the costs that pollution and climate change inflict on the general economy and individuals. Carbon, unlike other commodities exchanged and consumed in the free market, bears unique costs to the general economy that its market price does not encompass. The pollution we create when we consume carbon contaminates our air, raises temperatures, and makes severe weather events more frequent. A carbon tax is an economic mechanism that forces actors in a free market to come face-to-face with the social cost of
Of course, such an endeavor cannot be met by America’s ambitions alone, but by meeting other nations levels of commitment and by setting certain courses of action, America will lead by example and other nations will be set up for success. This will allow us to advance toward a better world as a whole. Low carbon pollution has the potential to strengthen our nation through investment and innovation in clean energy. By investing more time in industries such as wind and solar power there will not only be a cleaner environment, but a steady stream of middle class jobs. Something that has occurred over the past few years with Obamas current Clean Power Plan. Power plants are the largest source of emissions in the United States. In August 2015, the
Global warming has become a world wide issue and an issue that is causing great controversy. It is an increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely predicted to occur due to an increase in the greenhouse effect resulting especially from pollution (Dictionary). Global warming is a natural process, but because of increase in certain activities this process is taking a faster and more dangerous route creating global problems. Global warming was first theorized in 1894 by Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier a French mathematician, who noticed the earth was gradually increasing in temperature. He came to the conclusion that the earth’s atmosphere was trapping solar radiation caused by the sun and reflecting this radiation back to
Why start something if you can’t finish it? Because, we cut down greenhouse gasses because we started using more natural gas.It would also allow the technologies that we would need time to develop, and become great, magnificent even, and popular. And since jobs and money have been tight, people are buying less. These are my three reasons to support my claim. I think that the U.S. should not make laws on climate change right away. Climate change is a very serious issue but, we won’t be able to start and stop it with the technology that we have. Also if the U.S will do something about climate change, then so might others. Yet, these gases are dangerous risks to the world's businesses, its environment and the health of all people. We have increased our demand of burning fossil fuels.
Should the U.S federal government adopt a carbon tax to decrease c02 emissions of public and private franchises.
Climate change or colloquially known as global warming, now pose a new threat to civilization as the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) are soaring to new levels. The most significant contributor to greenhouse gasses would be Carbon Dioxide (Co2). The levels of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) gas have risen to levels civilization has not seen before. As such, the effects of these levels are not known to civilization as data gathered from the ice cores drilled in the Antarctica only shows data up to 650,000 years ago. However we can conclude that present CO2 concentrations are higher compared to any time in the last 650,000 years (IPCC 2007). Current carbon dioxide concentrations are hovering around 389 parts per million (ppm) as of September 2011,
The United States, as well as all other developed and developing countries, must chose the welfare of the earth over the huge amounts of money to be made by exploiting the earth 's riches. Our great country should become the leader in paving the way for a brighter and safer future for our next generations. The United States should also continue to develop treaties with other major countries such as China, Russia, and Japan to slow the poisoning of the earth 's air and water supply. We must act and invest now in new technologies which assist in detecting and proving theories such as global warming.
The United States releases twenty tons of carbon monoxide per person per year. Carbon Monoxide release is a result of burning fossil fuels with an insufficient amount of oxygen that causes the formation of carbon monoxide that pollutes our environment. Everyday fuel is burnt by cars, airplanes, large factories and manufacturing plants. This is causing a very large and deadly problem for our environment. When gases used on earth are released into the atmosphere they act as a blanket and trap radiation that is then redirected to earth. This concept is called the Greenhouse Effect (Bad Greenhouse, 1).
Climate change in America is getting worse everyday and can destroy many of living organisms including humans; therefore, humans need to cut our greenhouse gas emissions fast or, oceans will be dramatically changed, the ice will melt causing floods, and the changing in weather causing severe damage. These are major issues that need to be resolved if we are planning on making a bright future on earth.
Solutions to Global Warming There are many solutions to reduce the amount of green house gases in the atmosphere, which causes Global Warming. A main culprit for global warming is the use of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons). If the use of CFC's was reduced, the number of greenhouse gases will be reduced by a great deal (however there are many other thing that cause dramatic amounts of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide).