ENVIRONMENT: Will nations come together to combat Global Climate problems, or just their own nation?

Question

Deadly floods in Asia, a cyclone in the Middle ast, tornadoes in Brooklyn, more hurricanes & earthquakes, & extreme temperstures around the world (2.46 degrees F. increase)since January,'07 in Africa, Asia, Europe, & South America. Extreme weather forcasts to continue. What if all the nations only combat climate changes,etc. for their own nation instead of working together for the good of all humankind?

Answer 1

Nations are trying to come together to solve this issue. First with the Kyoto Protocol and more recently at the G8 summit. George Bush has undermined both efforts, but hopefully our next president will cooperate with an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Answer 2

Climate change is primarily caused by the release of CO2 into the atmosphere, a gas that -- once released -- stays in the atmosphere for centuries, getting so thoroughly mixed that nobody can even guess which molecule came from which country. Because atmospheric CO2 is such a perfect example of the Tragedy of Commons, it is simply impossible for a single country to deal with the problem on their own.

What is needed is a scientifically sound, transparent, well regulated cap-and-trade system that all countries and all industries are required to participate in. It would probably need to cover the important greenhouse gases (at minimum, CO2 and methane).

For those who don't know what a cap-and-trade system is: each participant figures out how much of a given pollutant they need to emit. Credits, representing the right to emit, say, 10 tons of CO2, are auctioned to the highest bidder. Then -- at least it is hoped -- the magic of the free market takes effect. Given the scarcity of the resource (the ability to pollute, which was previously unrestricted and therefore infinite), some people will find it cheaper to clean up their act than to buy the right to continue polluting. Ideally, this will fall to the people who can clean up their acts the most economically.

Such a system requires almost universal cooperation. If you have even one non-participant (say, China), industries will take their factories there to avoid paying the pollution tax.

An alternative would be an extraction tax on fossil fuels. The risk is that the tax would be set too low, which wouldn't accomplish anything, or too high, causing unnecessary problems to the economy. The cap-and-trade system at least has a mechanism for signaling its effects.

I don't know if countries have the political will to come together and tackle this problem. But if they can't, I fear that we're all screwed.

Answer 3

Extreme weather today? Learn some history and let me know what life was like in the Dust Bowl Days in the 1930's. We're no where close today.

Then rent the movie Key Largo with Humphrey Bogart. There you'll hear a story of a Cat 5 storm tearing into Florida in the 1930's. Learn about how the several hurricanes ripped out the rail line that connected Key West to the mainland.

People think the world begins with their birth, and nothing bad ever happen before they were born.

Answer 4

It would be easier for each nation to take care of their own, with the wealthier nations helping out developing countries as needed. Management of a situation generally works better on a smaller, more localized scale. Look at some of the things our federal government has messed up, such as education, that could have been handled better on a local level. It paints a pretty picture to see the world coming together, but in reality it isn't the best idea. Countries are not the same and each one has to do what is best for its own citizens.

Answer 5

Guess what there have been deadly floods in Asia before the industrial revolution , Greenland was green and extreme weather forecasts continue to be wrong. The only thing that happens when nations get together at the UN is that your pockets get cleaned out and a group of statist clowns try to tell you what to do. Thank goodness for the USA for standing against this nonsense.

Answer 6

Nations have been trying to come together and work on stopping human created Global Warming. George Bush took the US out of the effort. Hopefully our next president will bring us back into the effort.

Take care,
Troy

Answer 7

They will only spend a lot of money on projects that are politically correct. Its not an problem that can be solved by spending and law making. The way to fix these details is by using good engineering.