Decision Making On Black Carbon Mitigation

The world’s climate is changing, and the effects will have a great impact on our planet’s ecosystem, biodiversity, and people’s lives. The average air temperature is already 1.5 degrees than they were at the start of 20th century, and a rise of 1 degree in just over 30 years makes a big difference on our ozone. Climate change is a general term for a change in climate of a long period of time, climate being the long-term weather pattern of a geographical area: temperature and precipitation averages and extremes. When people today talk about climate change they usually refer to the present human-induced climate change caused by burning fossil fuels. This is also called global warming although scientists prefer the term climate change because even though the general pattern is a warming, some areas are expected to get colder, have more extremes in weather. By burning fossil fuels from industry, transport, energy production etc., greenhouse gases (GHGs) are released. Carbon dioxide is the main GHG of concern, but others are methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and ozone. These GHGs trap escaping energy emitted by the Earth and heat up the atmosphere, causing a general warming of the planet. However, there is a solution to slow climate change and enforce a limit to how much an industrialized corporations can burn GHG, and that is carbon trading.

Carbon dioxide is the ultimate driver of global warming because, like other greenhouse gases, it absorbs and traps heat in the atmosphere and, thereby, causes an increase in temperature. Large amounts of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions are released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels, including coal and oil. CO2 causes considerable problems because it remains in the atmosphere for a long period of time, even centuries. Lowering CO2 emissions is key to reducing global warming. To lower the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, a carbon tax should be established and the revenue used to compensate for costs that a carbon tax would impose on people.

Throughout the previous century, rise in temperature and surge in CO2 concentration because of innumerable factors comprising alteration land usage pattern [4] and greenhouse gas (GHG) emanations from agricultural and industrial zones [7], have caused variations in the earth’s climate. This surge in the GHG’s emanation is expected to impact the earth’s temperature,

Black Carbon (BC) has recently emerged as a major contributor to global climate change, possibly second only to CO2 as the main driver of change. BC particles strongly absorb sunlight and give soot its black color. BC is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. Primary sources include emissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires. Reducing CO2 emissions is essential to avert the worst impacts of future climate change, but CO2 has such a long atmospheric lifetime that it will take several decades for CO2 concentrations to begin to stabilize after emissions reductions begin. In contrast, BC remains in the atmosphere for only a few weeks, so cutting its emissions would immediately reduce the rate of warming, particularly in the rapidly changing Arctic. Moreover, reduced exposure to BC provides public health co-benefits, especially in developing countries. Technologies that can reduce global BC emissions are available today

Around the world, populations have continued to increase their use of fossil fuels which has made a great contribution to global climate change. “The continuing combustion of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution has contributed more than 75% of the carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere, with the remainder due to intentional cropland and rainforest burning” (Diaz, 2006). For over 150 years we have continued this harmful use of fossil fuels and slowly we are

For centuries, no one thought much of big clouds of smoke pumped into the sky or the millions of gallons of chemicals dumped into the ocean. Now mankind is paying for it. Although the temperature of Earth has only climbed on average of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit a year, it quickly adds up ("National Geographic News: Reporting Your World Daily"). The ice polar caps are quickly melting at a faster rate than ever. The polar caps aren’t the only ones that are melting, it also includes ice on mountain glaciers, Arctic sea ice, and ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland ("Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice"). When the large blocks of ice start to melt, the ability to reflect sunlight is lost. Usually when sunlight hits the polar ice caps, it is reflected back into space ("Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice"). Without the ability, the ocean absorbs the sunlight and heats up ocean water ("Global Warming Puts the

Carbon dioxide is a minor component of the Earth’s atmosphere accounting for approximately 0.04%. Despite carbon dioxide’s relatively low atmospheric concentration, it’s believed that it is the most important long-long lived forcing of climate change in the atmosphere. (Pachauri & Reisinger, 2007)

“During the last ice age, the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide concentration was just 180 ppm, putting the Earth into a deep freeze. After the glaciers retreated, but before the dawn of the modern era, the total had risen to a comfortable 280 ppm. In just the past century and a half, we have pushed the level to 381 ppm, and we’re feeling the effects.” (2006, p.318)

Carbon dioxide and other global warming pollutants are collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun’s heat and causing the planet to warm up. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in history. Scientist says that unless we curb the emission that cause climate change, average U.S temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century. According to an analysis of climate change data, there has been 90-99% chances that human have led to carbon dioxide emissions resulting from burning of fossil fuel that have causes

All the carbon released into our atmosphere contributes to the rise of greenhouse gases. The carbon from costal ecosystems is referred to as Blue Carbon. Most of the carbon on Earth is cycled through the ocean and coastal areas. These wet environments help to contain carbon and slow the increase of green house gasses in our atmosphere.

A significant global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is required to limit these risks and impacts ((IPCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007); (National Research Council, 2011). In particular, there is some consensus that this warming should be limited to 2?C above pre-industrial levels (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007); (National Acadamy of Science, 2011), requiring an 80%-85% decrease in global CO2 emissions by mid-century (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007) . If these goals to reduce the risks associated

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions, which trap heat, steadily drive up the planet’s temperature, and create significant and harmful impacts on our health, our environment, and our climate. In order to protect Earth’s ecological systems, we must reduce carbon dioxides and other greenhouse emissions.

While information on the subject of global warming is often contradictory, a vast majority state that global warming is caused by natural occurrences and has been occurring for billions of years before humans were even here, while others believe it is in fact human-induced. Active scientists are in agreement that humans are the main reason for earth’s rapid climate. A very clear sign that global warming is becoming a more pressing issue caused by human activity is the continuing increase of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere, especially over the past 70 years. For over 600,000 years the carbon dioxide levels remained under 300ppm, however in 1960 the carbon dioxide levels reached 350ppm and are currently over 380ppm and is increasing by about 2 ppm per year. With a large and noticeable rise in the

Global Warming has always been an issue for our planet; climate has changed throughout the 4.5 billion years of Earth’s existence. In particular, the world was much warmer sixty-five million years ago during the Paleogene period in the Paleocene epoch. The average temperature was 10 degrees Celsius higher than it is today. The cause for this was a massive and geologically sudden release of carbon. Something much alike is happening today with all the massive amounts of fossil fuels that are being burned. The difference is that sixty-five million years ago, the carbon dioxide (CO2) that was release was pure. Today, most CO2 that is release into the air is mixed with a lot of man-made fluorocarbon pollutants (PFCs) with radioactive

In addition to the rise in Earth’s average temperature, a rise also exists in the amounts of greenhouse gases emitted into Earth’s atmosphere. “There is now a widespread agreement that there is a causal relationship between carbon dioxide levels and warming global temperatures. The issue at hand is whether activities of mankind have upset a delicate balance of nature meant to prevent the atmosphere from being supersaturated with carbon dioxide” (Lee and Morley 2). Carbon dioxide, the fourth most plentiful gas in the atmosphere, is believed to be the