Climate change is driving efforts to reduce planetary greenhouse gas emissions. Finding alternative energy sources is one possible solution. Another involves changing cultures and behaviours. What roles can individuals, societies and governments play in changing the way we use energy so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Topic: Climate change is driving efforts to reduce planetary greenhouse gas emissions. Finding alternative energy sources is one possible solution. Another involves changing cultures and behaviours. What roles can individuals, societies and governments play in changing the way we use energy so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

Lecturer’s Name: Rebecca Priestley

Date: 19th October, 2015

Word Count: 1970

Climate change is one of the biggest issues that human beings need to face the human civilization today. And also, it is one the reason human begins to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in recent years. So what is climate change? Human activities like driving cars, burning coals and producing industrial wastes could produce greenhouse gases, and the earth will surround by these gases, so the hot air cannot get out of the earth. In other words, more greenhouse gas that we produced, and our world will become hotter. It is very challenging task for us to stop climate change nowadays. In particular, individual people, community society and the government they all play a significant roles that make an effort to change the current bad situation. The warning of climate change is present in different ways, for example, global warming, El Niuo Southern Oscillation and ice shelves melting in Antarctic. NASA shows that the temperature of the Earth was going up about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past 100 years (http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-climate-change-k4.html). It seems like is very small change, but it can cause very big effects to our earth. This essay will examine how human beings reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from individual, societies and the government to prevent the climate change causes the big problems in our world.

IPCC (2007) noted that the three main greenhouse gases is carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide [1]. Brook (2008) shows that there have ten possible ways that people can reduce their CO2 emissions during their normal life, for example, consuming less red meat, like pork, lamb and beef, because animals like pig, sheep and cattle is the main source of methane emission. And also, people could use public transport instead of driving a private car, because less car means less carbon dioxide emission [2]. Woodcock, et al. (2009) shows that reducing CO2 emissions could do by replacing the private transport both in developed countries and developing countries when they travelling around within the urban area, and it is also benefit to public health. And also, low emissions technology could be reducing the pollution from the private vehicle, which is keeping the road trip safety and provide a better environment [3].

Furthermore, Wilkinson, et al. (2009) indicated that improve energy efficiency and use low emission household cookware could potentially reduce the greenhouse gas emission [4]. Most important thing is reducing the use of energy to improve energy efficiency, like using natural wind rather than using unnecessary ventilation in the house. And also, reduce use of solid fuel when cooking food can also reduce the CO2 emission, and use biomass rather than wood or coal as the source of cooking energy. Bhattacharya & Salam (2002) research shows that the traditional biomass-based stoves could cause a large amount of greenhouse gas emission, although biomass is one of the renewable energy. The principal product of biomass produced is carbon dioxide and water when the combustion is complete, but incomplete combustion produce pollutant gas and greenhouse gas like carbon monoxide and methane. Their research also shows that around 90% of the rural area in developing countries is using biomass energy resources, which is very large part of produce greenhouse gas [5]. If these family switches to low greenhouse gas biomass, the amount of greenhouse gas emission could be potentially rapid decrease.

In addition, Amram & Kulatilaka (2009) shows that apply technologies to the life style could reduce the CO2 emission, like change transnational lighting systems to LED system, using solar power to heat the water and using high-efficiency fuel, and this could be reduce around 1.3 gigatons of CO2 every year. And it is the positive return investment during their normal life, which means it does not cost anything, just switch to using new technology products [6].

On the other hand, Friel, et al. (2009) indicated that 80% of agricultural gas emissions are from the livestock sector, which the food system contributes a large percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Around 10~12% of greenhouse gas emissions was from agriculture [7]. Berre, Boussemart, Leleu & Tillard (2013) shows that if the society could balance “farmers’ opportunity cost”, farmers could reduce the CO2 emission, which is reducing the number of livestock that they have [8]. In other words, the market price of livestock products is linked to the cost of pollution and the number of livestock that farmers have. For instance, if the market price is low, the farmer need more livestock to balance the product profit, at the same time, because the number of livestock is increased, the cost of the pollution is increased too.

Moreover, Amram & Kulatilaka (2009) shows that implement new technologies to nuclear industry and enhanced oil recovery could also reduce the CO2 emission, and cost of apply such technologies is under $25 per ton of CO2, and it could be reduce annual CO2 emissions by around 0.8 gigatons [6]. For example, according to New Zealand Wind Energy Association, New Zealand currently 70% of electricity was generated from renewable energy, and wind energy is playing an important role in renewable energy. The benefits of using wind energy are that produce much less greenhouse gas if compared with other kinds of energy, like solar or geothermal (http://www.windenergy.org.nz/store/doc/BenefitsofWindFarms.pdf).

Greenhouse Gas Working Group (2010) report shows that reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could through five different ways, which include reduce fossil fuel consumption, improve soil carbon sequestration technology, improve the utilization efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer, improve the efficiency of ruminant digestion, and capture the greenhouse gases from animal wastes [9]. Not agriculture plays an important role in the greenhouse gas emissions, cities also play a significant roles. According to UN-Habitat (2015), cities produces more than 60% of CO2 emissions through human activities, like vehicles and biomass use [10]. Cheeseman (2015) indicated that if cities use non-fossil fuel sources to produce the electricity and encourage people using electric car, and it will reduce the CO2 emission by 80% [11].

However, Harris & Mele (2014) shows that the Chinese government implements the individual emissions Trading (IET) scheme to the individual person, the permits of greenhouse gas emission were allocated to each individual person, and the government set a limit to each person. And also, people could get benefits from the IET scheme. The government will pay a certain amount money to people’s IET card [12]. This is seems like people lived under pressure from the government, however, such policy could be reducing the pollution and push people to replace the low-efficiency equipment with high-efficiency equipment. According to Ministry for the Environment (2015) in New Zealand, the government published the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage tree planting. The New Zealand government set a target to reduce 30% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 level [13]. The New Zealand government also applies the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to the market in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “internationally”, which allow developing countries help other developed countries by investing CDM projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions [14].

Additionally, Haines, et al. (2010) shows that a policy maker should “implement policies to reduce inequities in access to clean energy sources” and encourage people cycling and walking in city centres [15]. In other words, the local government should give equitable treatment with clean energy compared with fossil fuels, and also the government should build more cycling pathway in order to keep people safe when they cycling and walking on the street. For example, Wellington City Council increased their annual budget to $4.3 million specifically for cycling construction in order to improve the cycling routes and keep cycling safer around the city (http://wellington.govt.nz/services/parking-and-roads/cycling/we-support-cycling). Furthermore, Deangelo & Harvey (1998) indicated that all levels of government to cooperate in order to reduce significant greenhouse gas emission. For example, if the federal government wants to implement a carbon tax, it needs municipalities work with the federal government and reduce the barriers [16]. Jamieson, Brasell & Wakelin (2008) also shows that the New Zealand government’s projects to reduce greenhouse gas emission was strongly supported by local industries, especially, the local power companies. In order to encourage local industries to reduce greenhouse gas emission, the government provides subsidies to businesses in the cause of the financial pressure on businesses [17].

In conclusion, the climate change is a complex phenomenon, and it requires human beings to prevent further damage to the earth by human activities. And also, it requires human to change their behaviours, societies to balance the outcome between agricultural and cultural collision, and the government publish useful national policies combine with the international agreements. Of course, human beings have rights to use natural resources in order to meet their consumer demand. However, this kind of right need to base on did not break the basic limit of natural. In fact, by changing or reforming our current technologies, including the production of goods and the provision of the services, it also can reduce the material consumption from human, thereby reducing the interference on our ecosystems and the destruction of the ecological balance. Every country should support the renewable energy development to replace coal, oil and other fossil fuels with wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear to reduce the carbon emissions. People should also take responsibility to reduce the carbon emissions, such as double-sided paper, using energy-saving vehicle, and take more public transport. I believe through our efforts, we can protect our environment in the future.

References:

[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2007). Fourth assessment report: Climate change 2007. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar4/

[2] Brook, B. (2008). Top 10 ways to reduce your CO2 emissions footprint. Retrieved from http://bravenewclimate.com/2008/08/29/top-10-ways-to-reduce-your-co2-emissions-footprint/

[3] Woodcock, J., Edwards, P…. & Roberts, I. (2009). Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: urban land transport. The Lancet, 374(9705), 1930-1943. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61714-1

[4] Wilkinson, P., Smith, K. R…. & Chalabi, Z. (2009). Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy. The Lancet, 374(9705), 1917-1929. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61713-X

[5] Bhattacharya, S. C., & Salam, P. A. (2002). Low greenhouse gas biomass options for cooking in the developing countries. Biomass and Bioenergy, 22(4), 305 317. doi:10.1016/S0961-9534(02)00008-9

[6] Amram, M., & Kulatilaka, N. (2009). The invisible green hand: How individual decisions and markets can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. California Management Review, 51(2), 194-218.

[7] Friel, S., Dangour, A. D…. & Haines, A. (2009). Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: food and agriculture. The Lancet, 374(9706), 2016-2025. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61753-0

[8] Berre, D., Boussemart, J. P., Leleu, H., & Tillard, E. (2013). Economic value of greenhouse gases and nitrogen surpluses: Society vs farmers’ valuation. European Journal of Operational Research, 226(2), 325-331. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2012.11.017

[9] Greenhouse Gas Working Group. (2010). Agriculture’s role in greenhouse gas emissions and capture. Greenhouse Gas Working Group Rep. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, WI. Retrieved from https://www.soils.org/files/science-policy/ghg-report-august-2010.pdf

[10] UN-Habitat. (2015). Climate Change. Retrieved from http://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/climate-change/

[11] Cheeseman, G. (2015). The Role Cities Can Play In Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Retrieved from http://www.triplepundit.com/2015/09/role-cities-can-play-reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

[12] Harris, P. G., & Mele, E. (2014). Individual duties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in China. Ethics, Policy & Environment, 17(1), 49-51. doi:10.1080/21550085.2014.885225

[13] Ministry for the Environment. (2015). Other government policies and measures. Retrieved from http://www.climatechange.govt.nz/reducing-our-emissions/government-policies.html

[14] Ministry for the Environment. (2015). Clean Development Mechanism. Retrieved from http://www.mfe.govt.nz/climate-change/reducing-greenhouse-gas-emissions/clean-development-mechanism

[15] Haines, A., McMichael, A…. & Wilkinson, P. (2010). Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: overview and implications for policy makers. The Lancet, 374(9707), 2104-2114. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61759-1

[16] Deangelo, B. J., & Harvey, L. D. (1998). The jurisdictional framework for municipal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: Case studies from Canada, the USA and Germany. Local environment, 3(2), 111-136. doi:10.1080 / 13549839808725553

[17] Jamieson, R. E., Brasell, M. R., & Wakelin, W. (2008). Projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand. Retrieved from https://www.ipenz.org.nz/IPENZ/Forms/pdfs/TreNz6.pdf