Emissions

Today, I want to talk a little bit about greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. I was reminded of the severity one person can make in the environment today, when I saw an out of tune truck spewing exhaust into the atmosphere. It is important for those of us who drive to get regular tune ups, and when looking for a new car, making it an energy efficient one. On an individual scale, our cars are a huge source of pollution, and one of the easiest (but definitely not the cheapest) ways to curb our emissions. Ideally, everyone would walk or bike for travel, but in today's society, that kind of goal is unrealistic. And so, it is always nice to use public transportation when possible, but I understand that to some people, using public transportation isn't always an option. I myself cannot take the bus to school and have to drive to and from every day. For those us us who have to own cars, we should check our tire pressure and get tune ups regularly, and buy more energy efficient cars when needed.

Leading industrial countries like the United States and China put out a lot of CO2 emissions. According to UCSUSA, China is leading the world for most emissions per capita with over 6 billion metric tons of carbon output, or 4.58 tons of carbon per capita. The United States is second, with 5.9 billion metric tons of carbon emitted per year. But, our amount of carbon emitted per capita was well above China's with 19.78 tons of carbon per capita. Just to put this into perspective, the third ranking emitter of carbon was Russia with 1.7 billion tons of carbon. This is a ridiculous amount of carbon! The world- China and the United States especially- need to curb their emissions significantly. Here is a graph showing the world's leading carbon emitters. All of us need to work together to stop our own private emissions; if we work together, we can make a difference.

Today's article, Countries Submit Emission Goals by John M. Broder talks about the Copenhagen Accord on climate change that was reached in December. In total, 55 different countries included their goals to stop or cut emissions by 2020. Unfortunately, even with all of the pledges that countries have made, researchers believe that this will not cut emissions enough to stop the progression global warming. Although the world is still in danger, this accord could make a huge difference. For instance, China has pledged to cut their CO2 emissions by 40-45%. There are still some kinks to be worked out with the accord, but this was a huge step in the right direction for stopping climate change on the global scale.

-Morgan