Finishing Education - Essay Example

FINISHING MY EDUCATION There are a number of serious threats facing the world today, but few are more serious than the problem of global warming, climate change, and environmental degradation. We desperately need our leaders to do something to slow down this negative process. President Barack Obama campaigned for his office saying he would be one of the greenest presidents in history and would work hard to create the green economy and green jobs of tomorrow. But now, almost two years since his election, little has changed. There is still no successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol and the United States isn’t doing very much to combat climate change. The reason I want to finish my education is so that I can help deal with climate change and help save the environment. In my opinion, the government needs to take a number of drastic steps in the coming years in order to reduce our dependence on hydrocarbons, plus change the culture of America to make it generally more green. Only then will we turn back the clock on our environmental problems. The world’s climate is changing and the consequences are far reaching. We need to educate ourselves on these effects. That is why I need to finish my education. When examining this important issue we must be sure to have our facts straight. Even before looking at the consequences and possible solutions, it is necessary to determine what is causing this phenomenon. Some people say climate change is part of a natural process which happens every few centuries and which caused the ice age and other periods in Earth’s history in which the temperature was different. This might be true. But many scientists believe that human beings cause global warming. They say it is caused by the huge amount of cars we drive on our roads and by our coal plants and our thousands of factories. These people say we have simply not been good stewards of the Earth and are now responsible for the fact that the surface of the planet seems to be warming because of trapped gases. Our fossil fuel use is the main reason those gases are present. Every time we drive a car to school or work, use electricity, or heat our houses, we are releasing carbon dioxide into the air and making our planet hotter. Another important source of greenhouse gases is caused by deforestation, mainly in the Amazon. There is a lot of money to be made in cutting down trees and planting land for animals to use so the animals can be made into hamburgers at the end of the day. Cattle itself is said by some people to be in part responsible for increasing the amount of methane in the atmosphere. So much of what we do to stay alive and to make money appears to be hurting our planet, according to scientists who are increasingly vocal about this important issue. As the concentration of gases grows in the atmosphere, more heat is trapped and less escapes back into outer space. Some scientists have stated on the record that this increase in trapped heat changes may be responsible for a change in the climate, not only making the surface of the Earth hotter, but altering weather patterns. The patterns and even currents we have known for centuries are changing and changing our patterns of trade and they we lead our lives. I need to know more about all of these effects in order to help more. I need to learn more about different countries. There will be more monsoons and hurricanes as seen by the terrible storms of recent years including Hurricane Katrina. With rising water levels and more storms coastal countries will be powerfully affected by climate change. Countries like the Maldives, which already are barely above the water level may vanish entirely, becoming a new lost city of Atlantis. Other countries such as Bangladesh, which is frequently pummelled by bad weather and monsoons and floods will likely suffer even more. So what is to be done about this serious problem? We need governments around the world to develop policies that when implemented will slow down or stop climate change. We also need to educate ourselves. We need our students and universities and high schools to bind together to come up with a plan. The best policy for all of this comes in two complementary forms. The first requires us to reduce our dependence on oil. The second involves a cap and trade system to reduce emissions from harming our atmosphere. I will begin by explaining the first aspect of this policy. Americans consume huge quantities of gasoline and oil every year. They drive big cars and they consume many products that are made with petroleum products. In normal times none of this would be a problem. But with so much evidence suggesting that carbon dioxide from the burning of carbon fuels is causing the temperature of the globe to rise dramatically, something must be done. Already we can see this policy moving forward. Car companies are producing more and more fuel-efficient vehicles and many say an electric car is right around the corner. Another positive aspect is that with the Great Recession in the last few years, one of America’s largest car companies, General Motors, was largely taken over by the government. Hopefully that will mean that they will have more say in what kind of products the company makes and that they will push green technology. I need to learn more about this and about economics to help out. The government plainly needs to invest much more in this kind of thing if it hopes to stave off of the worst of climate change. It is very nice to hear that although electric cars are not yet available, many international car companies are heavily promoting what they call green cars. These companies are developing fully electric vehicles of their own, but for the moment, are emphasizing other technologies. Audi is pushing clean diesel engines, and Toyota is working on a hydrogen-based fuel cell technology that would obviate the need for heavy batteries. Other companies argue that public fascination with electric cars can be made profitable — soon.1 If these promises can be realized and American consumers invest not only in their own convenience but also in the future of their country and its environment, with the help of government policy towards such green car companies—such as tax credits—things can be much better environmentally for tomorrow’s generation than for today’s. However, investment in new technology such as cars is not enough to turn back the tide on climate change. We need to educate ourselves on new policies that will work. That's another reason I have to finish my education. The government must also put in place a massive cap and trade system to help reduce pollution into the atmosphere. With a system like this pollution will be treated as units and each company—depending on its size—will have a certain amount of credits. If it doesn’t use them all it can sell them to other companies who need to pollute more. It will essentially create a market in pollution credits with a certain ceiling that represents the maximum amount everyone altogether can pollute. The world is changing. Our climate is changing. We need to take action now and work together to stop this. We need to learn more and educate ourselves. We need to finish our education. We need policies in place that will reshape our world. But it is going to be a difficult process. Nothing important ever came easily. It is not surprising that none of these policies are yet in place and that they have run into some hard roadblocks here and there. Part of the issue is that such environmental policies take time to gain influence in the culture, and part of the issue is that there are a lot of entrenched interests who want to see these policies fail. We need leaders who can stand up for what they believe in and take on the big companies: we need a green revolution and we need it now. Works consulted Cohan, William. House of Cards. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Dougherty, Carter. “Electric Cars Cause a Buzz.” New York Times. Sept 15, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/business/energy-environment/16electric.html William F. Ruddiman. Plows, plagues, and petroleum: how humans took control of climate. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2005. Read More