Blog Ten: Climate Efforts Falling Short, U.N. Panel Says

Summary: This blog was about the third recent report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a group of officials in the United Nations that discuss climate change and possible solutions. The Panel agreed that, without extreme restrictions and changes in greenhouse emissions, there will be significant changes and potential catastrophic disasters seen worldwide within the next 15 years. Without limiting global warming, the average temperature (globally) could rise nearly 4 degree Fahrenheit – enough to lead to rising sea levels, inability to grow adequate food, and mass extinctions of animal and plant species. The positive end of solutions, such as implementing solar or wind power, is finding that these energy sources are becoming cheaper. However, in order to cut harmful emissions to an acceptable degree, new technologies will need to be added. These new technologies have not yet been created, and when they are, they will more than likely be quite expensive. The Panel found that, the costs in order to clean up our environment would be quite significant and, while many societies will be much richer than they currently are, over 5 percent will be poorer than they were initially, before having to dole out the money to fix previous generations mistakes.

Analysis: This article raised some really important points. Climate change is a well-known issue that affects every living and non-living thing on our planet. It will take a group effort in cleaning up the mess, just as it was, for the most part, a group effort in creating the problem (though some countries, our own being one of them, “donated” more to the issue than others). Also, while it is easy to say you will cut down on emissions by using public transportation or walking or some other small thing (that is in fact still important), it really isn’t an easy matter. Much of the carbon gas released into the atmosphere comes from industrial processes or factory farming. So what can we do? Are we, as a developed country, really ready to give up our industry or the (amount of) meat that is consumed here? Because, from the way the article talks, there may either be new technologies created to clean up the environment, or there may simply be huge taxes added on to products or the production of products that are not environmentally safe. How many of us will be able to afford these luxuries? 

This article was published in The New York Times on Monday 14 April 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/science/earth/un-climate-panel-warns-speedier-action-is-needed-to-avert-disaster.html?emc=edit_th_20140414&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=67003518&_r=0