Greenhouse Gas Emission - Essay Example

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION The idea of greening the earth to avoid global warming has been a total failure and needs a new approach to it. On a constant basis in media reports, governments and other non-governmental agencies are making claims of how well they have tried with the dream of greening the earth by reducing greenhouse gas emission to control global warming. I am however of the opinion and argues that all claims of successes have been total failure when greenhouse gas emission is looked at from a holistic perspective. This is because on a constant basis, “rates of greenhouse emission keeps going up with very little to no significant rate of reduction recorded in the trend” (Armour and Roe, 2011). Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emission has been found to be the “major cause of global warming, a phenomenon that puts the future of the entire globe at risk for future survival” (Galford et al, 2010). Scientists have actually warmed of the looming danger with global warming, giving every indication that note much has been done so far to calve the situation. In this argumentation or position essay, I take a stand that all efforts on greening the earth by reducing greenhouse gas emission have been a total failure and that there is the need for a paradigm shift, backed by pragmatic global intervention to be taken on the prevailing situation. Once the emission of greenhouse gases is controlled from its source, there is evidence that the levels of these harmful gases into the atmosphere will be reduced. One of the approaches to reducing the presence of greenhouse gas emissions is thus by reducing the number of possible sources from which the emission comes from. However, the EPA (2010) in its latest survey and research found that there are new sources of greenhouse gas emission springing up by the day. What is quite disturbing is the degree to which some of these rather new sources are controlling the levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In the chat below, seven major sources of greenhouse gas emissions are identified with corresponding levels of contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from these sources. 2008 Global CO2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion and some Industrial Processes (million metric tons of CO2) Source: IPPC (2007) From the figure above, the EPA (2010) notes that sources such as agriculture, waste and wastewater, and residential and commercial building are quite new sources that have been added to the sources of greenhouse gas emissions over the years. The understanding therefore is that in years past, these sources did not pose any threat to the world as far as the emission of greenhouse gases was concerned. From these arguments, I can ask a question to support my position that if indeed successes have been achieved, why are the sources of greenhouse gas emission increasing rather than reducing? From the evidence of increasing number of sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the University of Washington (2011) makes a shocking revelation to the fact that the levels of greenhouse gas emissions have been so disturbing that, there is virtually no hope of reversing the trend. The source therefore notes that, “There would continue to be warming even if the most stringent policy proposals were adopted” (University of Washington, 2011). The major underlying reason for development is that some greenhouse gases have been left to dominate in global warming so much to the extent that they have created heat-trapping mechanisms that will continue to account for the emission of heat in the nearest future. In the graph below, there is another evidence to support the fact that efforts on greening the earth have failed because global stakeholders have done very little to controlling the effect of certain greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide and methane. Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Gas Source: IPPC (2007). From the graph above, it would be realized that among the different causes of greenhouse gas emission such as deforestation, decay of biomass and fossil fuel use carbon dioxide is emitted in all instances and at the largest percentage. Together with methane, which is also emitted at 14%, an enclave of heat-trapping greenhouse has been created, pushing the hope of a total restoration of the earth very far. The restoration is said to have been pushed far because even if there were no more greenhouse gas emissions, collections of emitted gases would still pose as a challenge to global warming (University of Washington, 2011). Indeed, the picture painted by University of Washington (2011) on the future of controlling global warming is very alarming and threatening. However, another research gives some level of hope, based on which the final solution based evidence is being given for this position essay. According to the source, greenhouse gas emission can be reduced and gradually brought non-harming levels if certain key practices that promote greenhouse gas emission are reduced drastically. On deforestation for example, the research said that, “to reduce deforestation rates by 89 percent by 2020 would be an effective way to minimize future greenhouse gas emissions” (Stanley, 2010). In line with the suggestion, several governments, including the Brazilian government have taken up new steps in ensuring that the reduction rates that have been outlined will be achieved. The question will therefore be posed again that if what has been done is enough, why does there continue to be rush approaches to global warming. Clearly, not enough has been done and it is only a step in the direction that this will be admitted by various governments just as the Brazilian government has done. This is because if for nothing at all, knowing that the problem exists gives the need for interventions to be developed for them. As part of a new approach to global warming, I recommends a decentralized facilitation intervention that ensures that the control of greenhouse gas emission is done at the lowest decision making level. This is hoped to be more effective than taking up the control from a very wide national level (Galford et al, 2010). In the wake of all the arguments and evidences presented above, the researcher firmly concludes that the fight against greenhouse gas emission and for that matter greening of the earth has been a lost battle. Several reasons have been assigned as to why this position is authentic, including the use of facts and figure from highly credible and reliable sources such as the Environmental Protection Agency. The key areas that the facts and figures outlined were the ever growing sources of greenhouse gas emission. With this, the argument was supported in the sense that if the fight to reduce greenhouse gases had really been successful, the number of sources of greenhouse gas emission and the quantities of gas they emit would have gone down. It was also seen that not much has been done to control and tramp down on the effect and dominance of carbon dioxide and methane gases on the environment. This has lead to a long lasting impact where a shield against future interventions has been created. But all hope is not lost if the percentage of reduction of greenhouse gas emission can be kept higher and at consistent rates. If for nothing at all, the world should have a target for itself that aims at reducing some of these causes by 86% by the year 2020 and much of the talk on the battle against greenhouse gas emission can be said to have been successfully won. For now, it is a lost battle. Cited Works "Global Emissions." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. Armour, K. C. and Roe G. H. Climate commitment in an uncertain world. Geophysical Research Letters, 2011; 38 (1) Galford, G.L., Melillo, J.L., Kicklighter, D.W., Cronin, T.W., Cerri, C.E.P., Mustard, J.F., and Cerri, C.C. Estimating greenhouse gas emissions from land-cover and land-use change: Future scenarios of deforestation and agricultural management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010. Print. IPCC. Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change . Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Print. 2007. Stanley, Sarah. "A Future With or Without Trees: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Brazilian Amazon State." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 July 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. University of Washington. "If Greenhouse Gas Emissions Stopped Now, Earth Would Still Likely Get Warmer, New Research Shows." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2013. Read More