Strategies I Embrace to Address Climate Change Issues

I am among those who see global warming being accelerated by fossil fuel burning and other human activities that damage the environment as the greatest existential threat today to the well-being of this life-ship we call “earth”. For me, scientific consensus about disruptive climate changes is clear enough, even though the timelines for predictable catastrophic climate changes may not be precise. The environmental issues that I think we must be addressing today center around how to mitigate against the increasing dangers of global warming caused by human activity. While I have installed solar panels for my home energy use, bought energy-efficient cars and appliances, have invested in energy-saving home improvements, and have adopted a variety of environmental preservation habits and lifestyle changes, I believe that the climate change crisis we are now facing must include a combination of serious personal actions on the part of all of us in America as well as more strenuous governmental policies and practices aimed at reducing global warming. To that end, I have listed here numerous considerations and strategies for addressing the negative effects of global warming that I believe our energy-hungry world must adopt with a sense of urgency.

Many of those who are concerned about lowering greenhouse gases produced by human activity often call on us to reduce our “carbon footprint” at both the individual level and as nations, to curtail the amount of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere. Given the link between global warming and the rising levels of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel energy sources, one of the primary strategies to combat adverse climate changes has emphasized the switching from fossil fuel energy generation to renewal energy sources like wind, solar, hydro, and Geo-thermal, with the limited inclusion of nuclear energy sources as well. The use of renewable electricity has also been promoted in the transportation industry with the advances in the development of hybrid and all-electric vehicles and hydrogen cell cars. Clean energy production seems to be one of the most effective ways we can reduce our carbon emissions and mitigate adverse climate changes.

Another strategy to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere is the idea of creating economic incentives to encourage consumers to move away from the use of fossil fuels via one of several methodologies- cap and trade measures, a carbon tax or a carbon fee dividend- along with other financial motivators for Americans to reduce our reliance on carbon energy sources. Technological solutions that reduce the amounts of CO2 in the environment also include carbon capture and carbon sequestration methods.

Another frequently mentioned strategy is to identify and support “natural-based solutions” that help communities reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to climate change, strengthening their resilience and reducing their vulnerability to impacts like storms and droughts. Some organizations, like Conservation International, advocate planting trees, preserving rain forests, and limiting deforestation as effective measures for mitigating against greenhouse gases in the environment (calculating for example that on average, every tree absorbs 0.07 tons of CO2 annually.) Other environmentally-friendly measures include the adoption of xeriscaping and drought-resistance landscaping, water conservation practices, recycling, changes in food production methods and consumption, and supporting localized farming practices to help heal the earth from negative human activity.

Many environmentalists who promote reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy production also advocate for a large variety of energy conservation measures (better insulation in homes and commercial buildings, higher efficiency heating and cooling systems, the use of LED lighting, promoting Energy Star home building and appliance use, etc.).  Most environmentalists believe that more stringent government regulations are needed to bring about a serious reduction in greenhouse gases and to decelerate the disastrous trends in global warming.   The scope and scale of these strategies include agricultural practices and food production choices, with the recognition that large animal meat production and the eating habits of many Americans are responsible for high levels of toxic gas emissions in the U.S. along with deforestation for animal grazing purposes.

In promoting lifestyle changes in the way most Americans live for the sake of mitigating against climate change problems, many environmental groups encourage individuals and businesses to calculate the amount of carbon we emit individually or as a business into the atmosphere annually and then seek to reduce that number (often measured in tons of CO2). This has led to the development of a variety of carbon calculators that are sometimes complicated and conflicting in terms of how the calculations are to be made. The purpose of these carbon calculations, however, is the educate and motivate citizens to recognize the responsibility we all have in reversing the negative global warming trends.  Because the dangerous effects of global warming have been relatively slow to be recognized by many Americans, deadly and costly climate change disruptions from unusual weather events will likely continue and necessitate additional population relocations, protections, and disaster relief.   

Over the past decade, there has been a broad international recognition among many environmental agencies around the world of the urgency in reducing the increasing amount of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere in order to prevent catastrophic global climate disruptions. The seriousness of the current disastrous environmental trajectory has led to a series of international agreements on the need to develop public policies and international agreements that will mitigate against a looming worldwide environmental crisis. While there is a large-scale international agreement that aggressive global CO2 reducing measures must be taken within the next 10-20 years to prevent a “no-return” environmental disaster, there are still a host of contested issues around the commitments of varying nations to set measurable goals without damaging their economies and energy production. This failure to reach international agreements and commitments to reduce carbon emissions has been characterized by the Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, who has been calling for urgent international action, as “blah, blah, blah” rather than serious efforts to meet the environmental challenges every nation claims to recognize.

Meanwhile, there are still significant numbers of Americans who question the scientific evidence about the dangers of increasing levels of CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere or who fear negative economic outcomes with a move away from fossil fuel energy. This skepticism about and resistance to making changes to avoid the disastrous impact of increasing global warming often rests on ideological viewpoints about protecting personal freedom and distrusting government authority and actions. This resistance to taking global warming seriously contradicts not only the concerns of the international scientific community but also the major oil companies in the world who recognize the problems associated with the continual burning of fossil fuels. At the same time, energy producers around the world have been moving away from heavy carbon fuels like coal and utilizing better fossil fuels like natural gas to their energy portfolios as well as adding renewal energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal. The transportation industry has also responded to this growing environmental concern by pivoting from internal combustion engines to electric-powered vehicles.

Much of the environmental concern today is now focused on the transitioning that needs to take place to move away from fossil fuel reliance towards increased renewal energy sources both in the production of electricity and in our modes of transportation. The important issue among most of us who share this environmental commitment is how quickly our nation and the global community will make this shift to renewable energy sources and adopt aggressive conservation measures (like CAFÉ standards for vehicles and reforestation practices ) rather than continue to rely on traditionally affordable fossil fuels for our energy and transportation needs. I believe our nation and all of us as individuals must move with a greater sense of urgency to adopt all of these strategies in order to mitigate against the looming climate change crisis that is now unfolding before us.  I argue that the moral imperatives for implementing these strategies should take precedence over the financial costs to do so.