Mann and Kump hit the nail right on the head when they say “there is no easy way to meet the world’s rising energy demands in a climate-friendly manner” (Dire Predictions p 161), and they are right. I feel that countries (particularly developed countries) need to be more willing to give up more of their GDP towards funding for advancing alternative energy resources and quickly, to meet the demand of growing population rates world-wide. As mentioned in Dire Predictions, there has been an increase in emission rates from the transportation sector. I feel this is, as well as “building green” are especially important for developing countries. Urban development planning is essential, and needs to focus on the accessibility of public transportation, decreasing the demand for automobiles. In addition, building infrastructures that are green is important, because according to Mann and Kant, the commercial and residential building sector accounted for about 4 GT of CO2 equivalent in 2004, and is are large consumers of energy. The main issue is funding. These developing countries rely heavily on coal because it is inexpensive and readily accessible to them. I feel that one way we can divert funding for these projects is to have countries that were delayed to comply with the standards set in the Kyoto Protocol pay fines. This money will essential be the funds used to assist developing countries and their efforts to go green, as well as partake in technology transfers, and building certain infrastructures, such as windmill farms and solar panel fields. A large portion of the world’s agricultural sectors lay within these developing countries, so we do need to invest in them, because we are all interconnected and rely on each other. Another big obstacle is the uncertainty of who will be affected by the changes in Earth’s climate, how and where we will need to focus our efforts to mitigation strategies. As stated in “Climate Change: Current Issues and Policy Tools,” “much will remain unknown no matter how much is invested in research” because humans have not been around long enough to witness the potential outcomes of the drastic increase of GHG into Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, I feel that yes, we do need to continue to invest money into researching global warming, but I feel that it would be in everyone’s best interest to use some of that money, along with additional funding from developed countries towards advancing alternate, and green energy resources, as well as strategic planning for mitigation, despite the uncertainty.Nothing worth having is easily attainable.
Tags: Clean Development Mechanism, climate change, developing countries, interconnectivity, student-citizens, sustainable development
