Policies to Reduce Global Warming in USA - Assignment Example

Abstract Global warming is the most important problem faced by the world including USA which puts a challenge for ensuring sustainable development. It leads to negative climate change and environmental imbalance that may jeopardize the basic human existence. Though USA has taken some initiatives to control the emissions of green house gases, the situation is not satisfactory. Hence, USA should implement two new policies which should control the global warming at both national and international level. The first one is related to farm sector i.e. agriculture sector. Under this, USA should produce significant amount of bio-diesel by extending support the farmers to cultivate bio-diesel plants like Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) and Indian beech tree (Pongamia pinnata) in suitable agro-ecosystems. Second policy would concentrate to increase the investment on research on development of alternate fuels and other green technologies. An integrated green technology plan has to be incorporated in our national policy which should be made as mandatory for all the corporate houses for establishing their units in any piece of land in USA. Key words: Global warming, Jatropha, Indian bench tree What is global warming? Global warming is a most important problem faced by us which puts a challenge for ensuring sustainable development. It results in negative climate change and environmental imbalance that may jeopardize the basic human existence. With a rise in temperature at present rate, it is reported that some of the islands in the world like the Maldives may be inundated in nearby future which results in loss of bio diversity and ecological balance which in turn result in negative consequences in the total world including USA. Status of global warming in USA In USA, several efforts were made earlier to reduce the negative effect of global warming. The main emphasis in these policies was given to reduce the consumption of energy by using a green technology but in a fragmented manner. The technologies that support the less emission of green house gases like methane and carbon dioxide were encouraged in this process. However, the progress of global warming management policies was not satisfactory and it requires the politicians to come up with new and most efficient policies that can reduce the global warming in a sustainable manner. Though USA was actively involved in all the international conferences related to global warming and climate change like the Rio Earth summit (1990) and Kyoto protocol (1997), it could considerably bring changes in the policies at global level, but neglected the measures for controlling global warming at domestic level. My suggestions for new policies on global warming control in USA Keeping these points in consideration, I support the following two policies which can be considered by the government of USA and they have strong potential to reduce the negative consequences of global warming. 1. The first one is related to farm sector i.e. agriculture sector. USA has to produce significant amount of bio-diesel and hence there is an urgent need to support the farmers to cultivate bio-diesel plants like Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) and Indian beech tree (Pongamia pinnata) in suitable agro-ecosystems. Though these two trees are native of other countries, USA has strong potential and scope for their cultivation due to hardy nature and adaptability. Jatropha seeds can result in oil production up to 34 % (Achten et al., 2008). Indian beech tree can result in production of Karanja methyl ester (KME) which acts as bio diesel and is found to reduce the emission of green house gases like carbon monoxide to a significant level (Nabi et al., 2009). The pollution in US states like New York can be minimized considerably by blending these bio-fuels along with petrol or diesel and hence US government must focus on strengthening the efforts of United states Department of Agriculture (USDA) in enhancing the area under cultivation of bio-diesel plantations. Several wastelands have to be converted towards the plantation of bio-diesel vegetation which not only provides additional net returns to the farmers but also aids in reducing the environmental pollution. This bio-diesel can be mixed with petrol or diesel in a balanced ratio so that the pressure on conventional fuels can be reduced. In addition, the green house gas emissions from conventional fuels can be minimized due to utilization of bio-diesel. As assured by our President Barack Obama, the government should exhibit its commitment towards environmental friendly technology by allocating higher investment on bio-diesel vegetation. It is heartening to note that the President has emphasized on more flexible US policy for reducing the green house gases and supported the Kyoto Protocol whose first commitment period for reducing the green house gases ends by 2012 (Environment News Service, 2009). He emphasized much on development of low carbon US state economy. This requires a shift in farm policy aiming at encouraging farmers for cultivating bio-diesel vegetation by giving them considerable subsidy for input procurement during initial two years during which the income from bio-diesel will not be sufficient. In addition, the farmers cultivating bio-diesel should be provided quality seeds of vegetables like tomato at reasonable prices which can be grown as intercrops during initial two years. The farmers should also be supported with reasonable selling price for the final product. The new policy should also concentrate on development of efficient processing plants at field level so that the farmers needn’t depend on some middlemen. Hence, I support this policy strongly. 2. I also support another important policy to be considered by government of USA is to increase the investment on research on development of alternate fuels and other green technologies. An integrated green technology plan has to be incorporated in our national policy which should be made as mandatory for all the corporate houses for establishing their units in any piece of land in USA. No permission should be given to the new units who don’t meet the standards of integrated green technology. The minimum threshold limits for emission of green house gases must be decided based on the recent guidelines given by the international agencies and protocols on environment. The present investment on research towards development of green technology is not adequate and requires significant jump so that the researchers would be encouraged to use recent technology for development of alternate fuels. Under this new policy, good number of research awards must be installed for best researchers who come up with breakthroughs. The final aim of this plan should be to reduce our dependency on hydrocarbon based technology and develop environment friendly green technology. It should also concentrate on development of recycled products so that the waste materials can be effectively reutilized and no environmental pollution would be resulted. Income tax and corporate tax concessions must be provided to all the private corporate houses involved in development of integrated green technology. Most important component under this new policy is combined heat and Power (CHP) system for generation of power in which power will be generated from single fuel source. Moreover, CHP plays crucial role in reducing the energy costs and green house gas emissions and enhances the operational efficiency. Though there exists a CHP Partnership programme, this was made voluntary and the new integrated green technology plan must make it compulsory for all the corporate houses related to chemical, paper and pulp, food processing and glass manufacturing plants to implement in their units. Under this new policy, the individual households also would be encouraged to utilize the green technology at their residences and sufficient awareness about the developed products must be created. This would automatically bring positive and desirable change in their culture, attitude and behaviour. At the same time, incentives have to be provided to the individuals who conserve the energy in an efficient manner and put their efforts for using more renewable energy sources. This also calls for strong coordination among the Department of Energy, United States Environmental protection Agency, Department of Transportation and department of Agriculture. Hence the new policy must contain specific roles of all these four main agencies of USA and some legal binding clauses have to be incorporated so that the efforts for reducing global warming in USA would be fruitful. If all these points are considered, I strongly feel USA would be successful in reducing the emissions of green house gases. Hence, I fully support the above mentioned two new policies which must be seriously considered to be incorporated in US laws for effectively reducing global warming. References Achten, W. M. J., Verchot, L., Franken, Y. J., Mathijs, E., Singh, V. P, Aerts, R. & Muys, B. (2008). Jatropha bio-diesel production and use (a literature review). Biomass and Bioenergy, 32 (12), 1063-1084. Environment News Service. (2009, March 30). New day dawns for US global warming policy. http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-30-01.asp. Nabi, M N., Hoque, S. M. N., & Akhter, M. S. (2009). Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) biodiesel production in Bangaldesh, characterization of Karanja biodiesel and its effect on diesel emissions. Fuel Processing Technology, 90 (9), 1080-1086. Read More