Reducing Greenhouse Gases Climate scientists agree that climate change is a global problem that must be attacked by a unified world with a single goal. All nations must come together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, getting nations to agree on useful measures has been difficult. The first attempt to control greenhouse gas emissions was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was not very successful in getting nations to participate or in cutting emissions. The easiest and quickest way is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to increase energy efficiency and conservation. An... Show more Reducing Greenhouse Gases Climate scientists agree that climate change is a global problem that must be attacked by a unified world with a single goal. All nations must come together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, getting nations to agree on useful measures has been difficult. The first attempt to control greenhouse gas emissions was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was not very successful in getting nations to participate or in cutting emissions. The easiest and quickest way is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to increase energy efficiency and conservation. An effective way to encourage conservation is a carbon tax placed on carbon dioxide emissions. The tax is placed on gasoline, carbon dioxide emitted by factories, and energy bills so people or businesses that emit more carbon pay more taxes. The money collected from a carbon tax can be used for research into alternative energy resources. Another approach to reducing greenhouse gases is the development of energy alternatives, including biofuels. Biofuels can replace gasoline in vehicles. They reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they have other problems. So far, most biofuels are produced from food crops such as corn. When food crops are used for fuel, the price of food goes up. Modern agriculture is also extremely reliant on fossil fuels for pesticides, fertilizers, and the physical work of farming. Therefore, not much energy is gained from using these biofuels instead of fossil fuels. More promising biofuel crops—including algae—are now being researched. Algae can be grown in areas that are not useful for agriculture, and they contain much more usable oil than crops such as corn. Removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere after they are emitted is another option. Carbon capture and sequestration occurs naturally when carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by trees in forests. An obvious way to remove more carbon is to plant more trees. Unfortunately, more forests are currently being lost than gained. Carbon can also be artificially sequestered. For example, carbon can be captured from the emissions of gasification plants and then stored underground. Some small sequestration projects are in development, but largescale sequestration has not yet been attempted. Show less
Reducing Greenhouse Gases Climate scientists agree that climate change is a global problem that must be attacked by a unified world with a single goal. All nations must come together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, getting nations to agree on useful measures has been difficult. The first attempt to control greenhouse gas emissions was the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which was not very successful in getting nations to participate or in cutting emissions. The easiest and quickest way is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to increase energy efficiency and conservation. An effective way to encourage conservation is a carbon tax placed on carbon dioxide emissions. The tax is placed on gasoline, carbon dioxide emitted by factories, and energy bills so people or businesses that emit more carbon pay more taxes. The money collected from a carbon tax can be used for research into alternative energy resources. Another approach to reducing greenhouse gases is the development of energy alternatives, including biofuels. Biofuels can replace gasoline in vehicles. They reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but they have other problems. So far, most biofuels are produced from food crops such as corn. When food crops are used for fuel, the price of food goes up. Modern agriculture is also extremely reliant on fossil fuels for pesticides, fertilizers, and the physical work of farming. Therefore, not much energy is gained from using these biofuels instead of fossil fuels. More promising biofuel crops—including algae—are now being researched. Algae can be grown in areas that are not useful for agriculture, and they contain much more usable oil than crops such as corn. Removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere after they are emitted is another option. Carbon capture and sequestration occurs naturally when carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by trees in forests. An obvious way to remove more carbon is to plant more trees. Unfortunately, more forests are currently being lost than gained. Carbon can also be artificially sequestered. For example, carbon can be captured from the emissions of gasification plants and then stored underground. Some small sequestration projects are in development, but largescale sequestration has not yet been attempted.
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