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Juan David Cardenas - Garcia

Ms. Saravia -4

English 11

30 November 2016

Importance of Government Regulation of Carbon Emissions

We are at risk of reaching the limit of carbon emissions our world can handle, risk of

burning our world up. Throughout a century, there hasnt been much regulation of carbon

emissions, however, now it is essential to implement around the globe. Global warming has been

proven to be a serious threat to the health of the environment, biodiversity and the human race as

a whole. Increases in average temperatures have had effects all over the world, much reason

government action to create and enforce dire regulations on carbon. Government regulation of

fossil fuel emissions is needed to counter global warming threats already starting.

Climate change has only recently in the past decades turned into a major concern. The

issue was not addressed globally as a real concern until 1988 (Schneider). Governments have

shown improvement in implementing environmental policies throughout the years, still with

major room for improvement of effectiveness. Recent scientific research since 2013 concluded

that temperatures have risen globally an average of 58.3F; 1.4F warmer since the 1880s

(Graphic: Global Warming). Global Warming has caused major increases in natural

disasters, loss of biodiversity, ocean water levels and much more. Still, with most governments

lacking in effective efforts for environmental climate protection.

Scientific studies since 1896 have suggested the possibility of human induced climate

change from carbon emissions (Schneider). Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius published the
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first calculations on human induced global warming stating that fossil fuel emissions would

increase the Earths temperature (Weart). The research was ignored until the late 1900s as most

believed human induced emissions would be successfully counteracted by mother nature. Until

1988, when the United Nations founded the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

It was one of the largest global scientific research collaborations ever, created to aid research,

and help assess creation of climate change policies for governments based on the scientific data

from the research. Even still, global warming gained mass attention to the public, the media and

politically after IPCC announced and released their Second Assessment Report in 1996 with

undeniable evidence climate change from human inducement (Schneider). Since then, more and

more studies have been conducted on global warming, with the vast majority of scientists

agreeing on it. Infact, most of their data from researchers and scientists all over the world of

incrementing temperature changes agrees with each other from being near identical (Graphic:

Earth's). However, much uncertainty over the issue still has not allowed an effective

simultaneous effort of governments to combat climate change.

Recently, many efforts have been made to lower CO2 emissions. Back in 2014, Barack

Obama and China announced a pact to reduce their countries carbon emissions. The U.S.

targeted 26-28 percent reductions of emissions by 2025, and China targeted 20 percent

reductions or more by 2030 (FACT SHEET: U.S.-China). Considering these are the largest

climate polluting countries in the world, this is a huge reduction of air pollution. In November of

2016, more than 190 countries signed and ratified the Paris climate change pact in the 22nd

Conference of the Parties to the UN (COP 22), with countries collaborating internationally to

decrease global emissions (Davenport). A threat to the Paris agreement may be Donald Trump as
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he may withdraw the U.S. from the agreement from not believing that global warming is a real

phenomena. The idea of a Carbon tax, as supported by billionaire inventor extraordinaire Elon

Musk, has been seen as a very effective way to help reduce carbon emissions if implemented in

countries like the U.S. Even though there may be set backs to efforts reducing global climate

change, governments are now attempting to slow climate change.

There are counter arguments opposing government regulation of environmental health.

Our new President Donald Trump does not believe global warming to be real, dismissing all of

the research, events, and data since the twentieth century (Davenport). One counter argument

made is that focusing on more energy sources that produce less emissions than current fossil fuel

would hurt the economy. Fossil fuel industries primarily are against advocating for eco-friendly

energy solutions, as their industry will suffer drastically if they do. They have lobbied for this

even after knowing that fossil fuel emissions would bring drastic climate change to the planet

since the 1970s (Big Oil Is Way). If the need for their fuel becomes less needed, then

demand will drop, profits will drop and the industry will suffer as a whole. They also say that if

that happens, then many jobs will be lost from the industry leaving a substantial amount without

jobs. While this may be the case, the benefits outweigh the costs no matter what. Innovation

leads to newer and more jobs, which will replace those lost either way. The world wont be able

to stop this problem fast enough without suffering anymore, a problem long overdue from its

increasing severity. The good thing is, that many more companies and countries are now starting
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and have realized that action against fossil fuel emissions will be much less expensive than

inaction.

Global warming from rising levels of emissions has caused undeniable damaged

biodiversity around the world. Animals all over the world are at higher risk of extinction that

ever before, and many entire species have already been victims to extinction. For example, the

Bramble Cay melomys ,after failing to trap any after 2014, were the first mammal species

considered extinct from climate change (Howard). The Golden toad was another species that

went extinct from temperature changes in its habitat in Central America (Dell'Amore). Coral

Reefs everywhere have been declining from global warming too for many reasons, one of which

is warmer waters of which coral is highly sensitive to. Before abundant all over the Caribbean,

now they are there in some areas (Dell'Amore). They have been in A study in 2015 showed,

vertebrate species like fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles disappearing 114

times faster a phenomenon linked to climate change, pollution, and deforestation

(Denchak).Their seasonal behaviors, migration patterns have been disrupted by temperature

changes due to global warming. The arctic biomes have suffered the most from global warming

as glaciers and ice melt from rising average temperatures, threatening their ecosystem and way

of life (Global Warming Fast). The polar bear has suffered from increasing sea-ice loss,

which they use to hunt sea life. Penguins are also affected by less sea-ice as one of their food
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sources is krill, which locates under ice-sheets, forcing them to migrate longer distances for food

(Dell'Amore). This is enough evidence that shows the effects global warming has caused for life

on earth.

It is important for major countries like the U.S. to regulate internal carbon emissions to

combat global warming. Together, the U.S. and China combined made one-third of the worlds

total air pollution (FACT SHEET: U.S.-China). Out of those two, the U.S. has produced 27%

of all carbon emissions in the world from 1850 to 2011 (Mooney). China may be the largest

producer of carbon emissions now, but the U.S. has contributed much more for more than a

century. This is why it is important for the U.S. and other major pollutant contributing countries

to regulate carbon emissions in its borders since they are the main contributors to global

warming. The new Paris climate pact signed by over 190 countries will make those countries

pass regulations of fossil-fuel emissions in a joint effort to eventually stop the rise of global

warming (Davenport). Elon Musk, a billionaire inventor engineer, has stated,If you believe

there is a value to the CO2 capacity of the atmosphere and that CO 2 capacity is not being

paid for whatever its use may be then every fossil fuel burning activity is massively

subsidized, stating here that the hidden tax is unregulated by the government when it should

clearly be. Even ExxonMobil, the biggest oil and gas company in the world, is advocating for a

uniform federal carbon tax in the U.S. They advocate a revenue neutral carbon tax that would

have to be paid, with other taxes reduced by the government in order to not increase tax stress in

the economy (Gleckman). The world now constantly endures costly damage from major weather

events that are increasing in frequency from global temperature changes (Denchak). From 1980
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to 2015, the average cost in the U.S. for climate disaster events was $5.2 billion per year, 2011 to

2015 averaging nearly $11 billion per year. There are more and more deaths related to heat now

too, which indicates that temperature increases are actually happening (Denchak).

To conclude, the world needs to take action to reduce fossil fuel emissions to combat

global warming. If we dont, our planet will change drastically for the worse. The animals of the

world will gradually die off from the fast and drastic changes approaching. The world will

become too hostile everywhere with frequent extreme weather events, our whole culture we have

lived in and built will be destroyed because of our inability to sacrifice fossil fuels for the greater

good. All of us will go down with it unless we act now in favor of strong government regulation

of carbon emission.
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Works Cited

"Big Oil Is WAY More Evil Than We Thought." YouTube. The Young Turks, 24 Apr. 2016.

Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

Davenport, Coral. "At U.N. Meeting, Diplomats Worry Trump Could Cripple Climate Pact." The

New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2016. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

Dell'Amore, Christine. "7 Species Hit Hard by Climate Change-Including One That's Already

Extinct." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 2 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Dec.

2016.

Denchak, Melissa. "Are the Effects of Global Warming Really That Bad?" NRDC. N.p., 15 Mar.

2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

"FACT SHEET: U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy

Cooperation." The White House. The White House, 11 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.

Gleckman, Howard. "Exxon -- Yes, Exxon -- Backs A Carbon Tax." Forbes. Forbes Magazine,

30 June 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

"Global Warming Fast Facts." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 14 June 2007.

Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

"Graphic: Earth's Temperature Record." NASA. Ed. Holly Shaftel. NASA, 13 Dec. 2016. Web. 20
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Dec. 2016.

"Graphic: Global Warming from 1880 to 2013." NASA. Ed. Holly Shaftel. NASA, 10 Mar. 2016.

Web. 16 Dec. 2016.

Howard, Brian Clark. "First Mammal Species Goes Extinct Due to Climate Change." National

Geographic. National Geographic Society, 14 June 2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

Mooney, Chris. "The U.S. Has Caused More Global Warming than Any Other Country. Heres

How the Earth Will Get Its Revenge." The Washington Post. WP Company, 22 Jan. 2015.

Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Schneider, Steven. "An Overview of the Climate Change Problem." Understanding and Solving

the Climate Change Problem. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.

Weart, Spencer R.. "The Discovery of Global Warming." The Discovery of Global Warming.

American Institute of Physics, Feb. 2016. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.