Global Warming: How to Restore or Lessen the Environmental Threats - Essay Example

The solution is through the concerted efforts of various nations to help each other deal with this environmental trouble in one accord.

            There are international treaties or agreements that have been made by various nations to help lessen and remedy the damage done by global warming to the environment. Two international and multilateral agreements, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 and the Kyoto Protocol of 1998, pay much attention to the damaging effect of world activities on the atmosphere. As cited by Morissette (1989):

Its formulation was a response to a growing international consensus on the need to protect stratospheric ozone from depletion by CFCs. The Montreal Protocol is a landmark agreement in that it is the first international treaty for mitigating a global atmospheric problem before serious environmental impacts have been conclusively detected.

            Upon the agreement of the various countries that participated in the formation and agreement of the Montreal Protocol, the battle against global warming further developed as time went by, and with new concerns. This eventually led to a new agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol.

 The Kyoto Protocol of 1998 is an international treaty deliberated to communicate with nations collectively to decrease global warming and to deal with the effects of temperature increases that are inevitable after more than a century of heavy industrialization. Manne and Richels (1998) exposited that this was “to reduce their aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by at least 5 percent below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008 to 2012.” (p.2). The nations that approve of the Kyoto Protocol concur to decrease emissions of six greenhouse gases that increase the problems of global warming. These nations are also permitted to utilize emissions trading to reach their obligations if they maintain or increase their greenhouse gas emissions.

All of these activities around the world are then observed and maintained by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or the IPCC, as well as upholding the environmental protocol treaties. The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research or UCAR (2011) cited that “the IPCC coordinates the efforts of more than 2,000 scientists from 154 countries. Together, they represent a vast array of climate specialties, from physics, to chemistry, to interactions with Earth's surface, to the role of human behavior”. The IPCC also has a policy-making body that helps review extensively the findings from scientists and field-related researchers so that their formation in creating policies is guided and well-founded.

In conclusion, it is possible for humanity to combat the mistakes that it has committed that led to global warming. Only through a combined and effective effort among the powerful nations in the world, as well as developing countries, is there a chance to help restore or somewhat lessen the environmental and health threats that global warming can further do to humanity as a whole.