{"id":153519,"date":"2021-10-21T14:54:02","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T14:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2937436"},"modified":"2021-10-21T14:54:02","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T14:54:02","slug":"what-will-it-take-to-reduce-global-carbon-emissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2021\/10\/21\/what-will-it-take-to-reduce-global-carbon-emissions\/","title":{"rendered":"What Will It Take to Reduce Global Carbon Emissions?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a majority of climate scientists, greenhouse gas emissions from human sources are directly responsible for a forthcoming climate crisis, in which global temperatures rise, ice caps melt, and environments all over the world begin to suffer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s too late to immediately revert these effects, and there are many sub-problems to solve to avert this crisis, but one of the most important steps to take now is reducing global carbon emissions. With fewer greenhouse gases contributing to the crisis, the effects will emerge more slowly, giving us more time to solve the other problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is it going to take to reduce global carbon emissions?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Problems With Carbon Emissions<\/b><\/p>\n

Environmentalists often rally around simple causes that residential consumers can easily get behind. For example, they promote the idea of riding a bike instead of driving a car, shopping locally, or using a reusable tote bag instead of getting disposable plastic bags from the store.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While these efforts can make a difference to the environment, and they certainly don\u2019t hurt, they aren\u2019t going to help reduce the scale of the climate change crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

For starters, carbon emissions are a global problem. Historically, the United States is the biggest contributor to climate change,<\/span> releasing more than 509 Gt of CO2 since 1850<\/span><\/a>. But even the U.S. only represents an estimated 20 percent of all historical carbon emissions. Today, it represents an even smaller fraction of current greenhouse gas emissions. If the United States were to undergo a complete transformation, reducing its emissions to zero or near zero, 80+ percent of greenhouse gas emissions would still remain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many countries refuse to take measures to reduce their carbon emissions altogether, and it\u2019s hard to blame them for doing so. Carbon emissions are a typical byproduct of industrialization; cutting carbon emissions would require these countries to sacrifice their entire economic development, potentially forcing their people to suffer and their country to remain relatively weak on the global scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is complicated by the fact that greenhouse gas emissions come from a wide variety of sources, many of which are hard to avoid. For example, you might upgrade your gas-burning vehicle to an electric vehicle, but that electricity might still be produced using coal-burning electricity generation. And you can eliminate your gas-powered transportation altogether, but you\u2019ll still have to eat \u2013 and agriculture remains a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, especially<\/span> emissions related to raising livestock<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Major Goals<\/b><\/p>\n

So what should our major goals be?<\/span><\/p>\n

For starters, anything you do on an individual level could be impactful. You\u2019re not going to solve the crisis alone, but simple decisions like being a conscientious consumer and reducing your travel can be positive changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a more global scale, these are some of the best bets we have:<\/span><\/p>\n