Climate Change and Strategies That Countries Are Using to Help the Prevention of Global Warming - Essay Example

Climate Change Climate Change can perhaps be most simply defined as significant alterations in weather patterns over a time period on either a regional or a global scale. Taken into context of our own era, it can be defined as an ‘increase in freak weather occurrences’ such as tornadoes, hurricanes and thunderstorms as have been witnessed recently (Vidal 2011). Caused by an increase in greenhouse gasses being released into the Earth’s atmosphere, it is also sometimes referred to as Global Warming. Popular scientific culture has helped spread awareness about this scientific phenomenon, popularizing it through movies (Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’), documentaries and other forms of media. However, this understanding has not resulted in any significant reduction in the rate of Global Warming, with the 20th Century’s last two decades being the hottest in 400 years (National Geographic 2007). Global Warming is seen as a threat to human health (Hambling et al., 2011 p. 2) with other concerns such as food security issues also expected in the future. Due to the growing awareness about this issue along with pressure-groups in the form of environmental NGOs, countries have been forced to take action in order to prevent further damage to the ecology. Initiatives such as the Kyoto Protocol have been welcomed by most of the world, which promise to reduce carbon emissions to a suitable level by a certain date. This essay will look at 3 of the many strategies that countries adopt in order to prevent global warming on a national scale, which may be due to their participation in international agreements/conventions like Kyoto Protocol or due to a national agenda of their own. Investment in renewable energy is a preferred strategy for most industrialized countries that aim to reduce their carbon emissions. $173 billion were invested into developing sustainable energy in 2009, a figure that fell after the global recession affected the financial situation of most of the involved countries (UNEP 2010 p 11-13). Some countries, like Iceland produce electricity using entirely from renewable resources, thereby leaving a minimal carbon imprint. Most countries, developed and developing possess the environmental conditions required to produce such energy; however, in the case of the latter, they do not possess the financial resources to exploit these conditions. The Kyoto Protocol aims to rectify that by encouraging developed countries to invest in reducing the carbon emission of developing countries, through such projects (UNFCC, n.d.). However, the effectiveness of this strategy does not take into account the agendas of some countries that will be harmed if the world forgoes the use of non-renewable resources in favor of renewable resources, such as the Middle Eastern countries that depend heavily on oil exports to support their economies (King, J., 2007 p 30-35). Such countries have a strong incentive to prevent the world from switching to eco-friendly ways of producing energy; some sources blame OPEC for keeping the price of oil down in order to make it more feasible than renewable energy (Environmental Economics, 2005). The switch from oil and similar sources to alternative energy will also have a major impact on world economics, since a lot of the world’s economies will have to adapt and unemployment threatens to be a problem too. However, with new jobs being created in the alternative energy sector, that problem will probably sort itself out. The impact of deforestation on the emission of greenhouse gasses is immense with some reports holding it responsible for nearly 25% of the world’s emissions (Howden, 2007). A report by National Geographic talks about deforestation pushing Climate Change, by reducing the quality of soil until areas that were forested before turn into barren deserts (National Geographic, n.d.). Therefore, one strategy used by countries revolves around preventing deforestation and encouraging reforestation. Some countries do this by encouraging recycling of products such as paper while others do this by imposing heavy fines on companies that take part in the act. Reforestation is encouraged with tax breaks to corporations or individuals that help in reclaiming and restoring deforested lands. However, the effectiveness of this strategy is compromised by conflicting reports that propose that replanting forests will not actually mitigate global warming to the extent as to what was originally expected. Most countries still believe in the importance of forests in preventing/reducing Climate Change with developing countries proposing that industrialized countries take the initiative in reforestation themselves, rather than just forcing less developed countries to maintain their current forests. Deforestation, for developing countries is an economic necessity and developed countries should make a similar sacrifice by reforesting their own lands. The last strategy that this essay will analyze is the trend towards population control, an idea that has been proposed especially for third-world countries that suffer from extremely high population. Human population is one of the most important environmental problems that we suffer from (Zuckerman and Jefferson, 1996 p 6-9). A high population requires more resources to survive than is possible for the Earth to sustain without sustaining high damage which is why most countries advocate population control. In this respect, industrialized countries have been successful with the government taking active interest in spreading awareness about family planning, with countries like Japan and Germany’s population growth rate slightly in the negative (United Nations, 2006). Third world countries, such as in Africa and South Asia (Pakistan/India) have suffered due to cultural and social taboos and stigmas attached to the concept of family planning. Religion has also played its role in preventing population control, with the Vatican playing a pivotal role in discouraging the use of contraceptives (Reuters, 2010). The effectiveness of this strategy therefore, is both successful and unsuccessful. However, with more scientific progress taking place, there is little doubt that population control is one of the most important strategies that needs to be undertaken by countries who still haven’t done so since it is one of the greatest global issues that need to be addressed. In conclusion, it is easy to see that the industrialized world has been more successful in introducing measures to prevent and fight Climate Change. International agreements such as Kyoto Protocol have proved to be helpful in ensuring that the developed world does its part in undoing some of the environmental damages that it incurred during its industrialization. Such an agreement has also made it necessary for countries to undertake different strategies to mitigate Climate Change, such as those mentioned above. However, after the recent economic crisis, even the industrialized world has found it difficult to treat Climate Change with the seriousness that it deserves, cutting back funding on some of the projects related to it. Some countries, such as the United States of America have prioritized their economic growth higher than their environmental concerns. Developing countries on the other hand have not been able to take the concept of Climate Change mitigation seriously. Such countries are already plagued with economic troubles and simply cannot bear the cost of protecting the ecology while harming their own economic growth. However, they need to accept their responsibilities soon. A global problem like this cannot be solved until all nations work cohesively together to come up with a solution and we’re still a long away from that. References Vidal, J. (2011, June 13). Warning: extreme weather ahead. UK Guardian. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/extreme-weather-flooding-droughts-fires (2007, June 14). Global Warming: Fast Facts. National Geographic. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html Hambling, T., Weinstein, P., & Slaney, D. (2011). A Review of Frameworks for Developing Environmental Health Indicators for Climate Change and Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2. (2010). Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Development. United Nations Environment Programme, 10. Kyoto Protocol. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved August 25, 2011, from http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php King, J. (2005). Oil in the Middle East. Chicago: Heinemann-Raintree. Haab, T. (2005, August 15). OPEC sees threat from alternative energy. Environmental Economics. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://www.env-econ.net/2005/08/opec_sees_threa.html Howden, D. (2007, May/June 14). Deforestation: The hidden cause of global warming. The Independent. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/deforestation-the-hidden-cause-of-global-warming-448734.html Zuckerman, B., & Jefferson, D. (1996). Human population and the environmental crisis. Massachussets: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Pullella, P. (2010, December 21). Condoms still banned for birth control: Vatican. Reuters. Retrieved August 26, 2011, from http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2010/12/21/condoms-still-banned-for-birth-control-vatican/ Read More