{"id":247,"date":"2009-09-14T10:15:56","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T14:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/?p=247"},"modified":"2009-09-14T13:30:28","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T17:30:28","slug":"is-it-too-late-to-stop-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/2009\/09\/is-it-too-late-to-stop-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it too late to stop climate change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes and no.\u00a0 One big question we all must ask ourselves as we explore climate change is whether global warming can be reversed.\u00a0 Scientific evidence has proven that global warming is occurring at unprecedented rates, leading many \u2013 such as myself \u2013 to wonder what, if anything, can be done to reverse the affects.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, we need to acknowledge there is a huge problem.\u00a0 As I explored last week, there is often denial in society about the affects climate change can and will have on our way of life.\u00a0 Many believe that small steps such as driving less and buying Apple computer software will fix everything.<\/p>\n

Making matters worse is that policies have been informed using this same ideology.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until 1992 that nearly all of the nations of the world gathered to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).\u00a0 Although in theory a good idea, this treaty was legally non-binding and therefore had no enforcement mechanism to attain its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000.<\/p>\n

It took another 13 years to draft and ratify the Kyoto Protocol, that to this day has not been ratified by the United States.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Kyoto Protocol calls for developed countries to have the greatest responsibility in greenhouse gas reduction because they emit the most.\u00a0 This is clear when we look at cities like Los Angeles, that on a regular basis are covered by a thick layer of smog.\u00a0 The American Lung Association of California reported that smog can lead to lung cancer, heart attacks, asthma attacks, strokes, and early deaths to name a few.<\/p>\n

Although developed countries should play a large role in gas emissions, it is important that developing nations also play a large role.\u00a0 Developing nations such as Brazil are home to immense natural resources such as the Amazon Rain Forest, which has for years been absorbing some carbon emissions.\u00a0 However deforestation and land & water degradation from mining are threatening the future of Brazils\u2019 rain forest and ultimately our planet.<\/p>\n

As is apparent in both developed and developing countries, harm is being done to the environment and for that reason the next protocol should not include any flexibility.\u00a0 If we are to address climate change in a timely manner, we cannot afford to institute different standards.\u00a0 In the case of developed countries, they must take drastic actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by shifting towards a green economy that considers the environment as an external costs.\u00a0 On the other hand, developing countries must use sustainable development tactics to grow their economy instead of going down the same path that has left developed countries in this position.\"\"<\/p>\n

The future of the planet is in our hands and by using a sustainable and expedient approach at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen to inform policy we can and will see a \u2018cooler\u2019 day.<\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/p>\n

American Lung Association of California<\/p>\n

CIA – The World Factbook – Brazil<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes and no.\u00a0 One big question we all must ask ourselves as we explore climate change is whether global warming can be reversed.\u00a0 Scientific evidence has proven that global warming is occurring at unprecedented rates, leading many \u2013 such as myself \u2013 to wonder what, if anything, can be done to reverse the affects. First […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1435,1811,1908],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-week-three-history-of-climate-change-negotiations","category-kyoto-to-copenhagen-course","category-unfccc-cop15"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/copenhagen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}