Chapter 15, Problem 9CR

To determine

The important concepts discussed in section 15.6. Five reasons which suggests that dealing with a projected climate change as a difficult problem. Two approaches in order to deal with climate change. Two different approaches to face the climate change. Four cleanup approaches and five preventive strategies for decreasing the pace of projected climate change. The five good news associated to “dealing with climate change”. The idea of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and five problems those are associated with capturing and storing CO2 emission. The meaning of reengineering and two strategies to solve the problem of climate change. The pros and cons of using carbon or energy taxes and cap and trade system to overcome the problem of climate change. The Paris international agreement and limitations associated with it. Five ways of reducing carbon foot print and five different ways to prepare for long term harmful effects of climate change.

Answer to Problem 9CR

The section explains the method of reducing green house gas emission The greenhouse effect is important for warming the surface of the earth. The natural greenhouse effect is important, but human activities are increasing the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere which is responsible for the rise in the surface temperature of Earth. Different physical entities interact to determine the possible climatic and atmospheric changes such as sunlight, clouds, and landmasses. The government has adopted different strategies such as carbon or energy taxes and caps and trade policies to reduce the carbon foot print of their respective countries.

Explanation of Solution

Section 15.6 of the given chapter explains the methods of reducing green house gas emission by switching to renewable resources and cutting down the energy usage.

Dealing with the climate change is difficult because of the following reasons:

(i) The repairing of the damaged environment is slow and can take thousands of years.

(ii) Many developing and underdeveloped countries do not have sufficient resources to switch to renewable sources of energy.

(iii) The effects of climate change are not equally distributed, so some of the countries do not consider it as an urgent problem. On the other hand, small nations such as Maldives are highly affected by climate changes.

(iv) The projected climatic changes are uncertain, so it becomes difficult for the countries to plan the risk management of climatic changes.

(v) Solutions such as decrease in the usage of fossil fuels could disrupt economies especially in poor nations.

The two basic approaches for dealing with climatic changes are:

(i) Reduce the green house gas emission especially CO₂ which is the major air pollutant and bringing it below the CO₂ tipping point which is 440ppm.

(ii) The second approach is to use geoengineering tools to manipulate natural processes to counter the effect of greenhouse gases.

The five major prevention strategies for slowing down the pace of climate change are:

(i) Decrease the usage of fossil fuel

(ii) Shift from the coal to natural gas

(iii) Reduce the pace of deforestation.

(iv) The agriculture methods should be more sustainable

(v) Per capita CO₂ emission of industries must be regulated.

The four cleanup approaches for slowing down the pace of climate change are as follows:

(i) More number of trees should be planted especially on the road side.

(ii) Carbon can be mixed in the soil by using biochar.

(iii) Smokestacks need to be cleared regularly to remove CO₂

The good news related to dealing with the climate change are as follows:

(i) The electric cars are taking over the fossil fuel using cars and these cars use renewable energy produced from sun and wind.

(ii) The renewable sources of energy are becoming cheaper and more people are shifting to these energy sources.

(iii) New buildings having a net zero carbon emission are being designed.

(iv) Many businessmen consider the climatic challenge as a global investment opportunity.

(v) The problem of climate change has also created jobs and profitable businesses.

Carbon capture and storage is a strategy for removing excess of CO₂ from the atmosphere. In this technique the CO₂ collected from smoke stacks, of industries is converted to liquid and then it is transferred to the carbon storage sites below the ground.

The major problems associated with capturing and storing the carbon dioxide emission are:

(i) The cost of building and maintaining underground carbon storage units is very high.

(ii) Only a part of CO₂ produced by industries is collected and other sources of CO₂ emission are not addressed such as food production and vehicle emission.

(iii) The transportation and conversion of CO₂ in liquid form requires high amount of energy and this energy is also obtained from the burning of fossil fuels.

(iv) There are high chances of leakage in the storage units contaminating the soil and this leakage can drastically alter the climatic conditions.

Geoengineering is a technique of manipulating the natural conditions to compensate the effect of greenhouse gases.

The proposed geoengineering strategies are

(i) Sulfate particles should be released in the stratosphere so that the sunlight is reflected back into the space.

(ii) Another strategy of geoengineering is to use computer controlled ship to inject saltwater spray in the higher altitude of the atmosphere so that the clouds become whiter and more reflective.

The potential problem of relying on geoengineering technique is that if these techniques succeed it gives a chance to the people to ignore the increase in CO₂ level in the atmosphere and continue with the exploitation of fossil fuel and other non-renewable resources.

The use of geoengineering strategies can slow the pace at which the people are shifting to the natural sources of energy.

The government can contribute a great deal to slowing the pace of climate change in following ways:

(i) Recognizing (CO₂) and methane as climate changing air pollutants and preventing the release of these gases in the atmosphere.

(ii) The government should close down the air polluting coal fuelled power plants and use renewable resources as alternate sources of energy.

(iii) The government should charge the per capita emission of CO₂ and methane by the industries.

(iv) The usage of cap and trade system can also help in controlling the CO₂ emission. In this system the government only allows a limited emission of CO₂ to certain industries

(v) Sufficient resources and funds should be provided to the research aimed at developing substitutes of non renewable energy sources.

(vi) Laws should be implemented to make deforestation illegal.

(vii) Use of renewable energies should be promoted by removing subsidies and providing tax benefits to the countries that are using renewable source of energy.

The advantages of using carbon or energy taxes are:

(i) These taxes are simple to administer and implements a clear price to the carbon emission.

(ii) The revenue generated is predictable and covers all emitters.

The disadvantages of using carbon or energy taxes are:

(i) The laws governing the tax implementation can be complex and are vulnerable to loopholes, making it easier for the defaulters to escape.

(ii) This method doesn’t guarantee low emission of CO₂

The advantages of using caps and trade policies are:

(ii) This strategy has a clear legal limit on emission of the air pollutants.

(ii) This strategy not only punishes the over producers of pollution but it also rewards cuts in emissions

(iii) The economic burden does not fall on the consumers.

The disadvantages of using caps and trade policies are:

(i) The rich companies can buy the pollution credits and keep on producing the pollutants.

(ii) This policy is vulnerable to cheating and there is no fix price on carbon emission.

The aim of Paris summit held in 2015 was to achieve a global climate change agreement. 195 countries participated in the summit and three important goals were set up in the agreement. The mandate of this summit was as follows:

(i) To keep the increase in the global temperature below 3.6°F.

(ii) Each country pledged to decrease the emission of greenhouse gas emission by a specific amount.

(iii) Meeting should be held in every five years to discuss the progress and set new goals.

The limitation of this agreement is that U.S withdrew from the agreement due to the pressure built by climate change deniers and fossil fuel companies. Moreover, U.S is not expected to meet the goal set up in the agreement. This will allow other countries to ignore and avoid meeting the set goal. Some people think the Paris agreement is as a weak, and inadequate response for the immediate global environmental problem.

The carbon footprint is the number of tons of carbon dioxide gas released by a person, organization, a city or a country

The five ways of reducing carbon foot prints are

(i) A person should drive a fuel-efficient car, and should chose walking, bike, carpool, public transport over personal transport.

(ii) The house hold appliances should be energy saving such as LED bulbs, AC and refrigerators.

(iii) Planting more and more trees helps in compensating per capita carbon emission

(iv) Priority should be given to the eco-friendly products working to reduce the pollutant emission.

(v) People should minimize the utilization of fossil fuels and switch to cleaner fuels.

Preparing for harmful effects of climate change is also necessary and some of the preparations include:

(i) Building houses on high grounds to survive flood.

(ii) The mangrove forests are being build up as these forests act as buffers and neutralize the force of storms.

(iii) New York is preparing to build new flood walls and flood gates.

(iv) Certain countries are installing cooling centers to prevent people from the strong heat waves.

(v) People are growing trees on the slopes, which help in preventing the land slides.