Blog #4: Global CO2 Levels Are Up

Robert Duncan

Friday, September 23, 2011

3:44 pm

A newly released study from the European Commission's Joint Research Center and the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency says that global carbon dioxide emissions were up 45% from 1990 to 2010. 2010 set the record for the most CO₂ emission to date with 33 billion tons of CO₂ being released into the atmosphere last year. Developing nations have shown the most increase in emissions, while many of the industrialized countries of the world are working towards the Kyoto Protocol goal of a 5.2% decrease in CO₂ emissions. The United States refused to ratify the Kyoto protocol, and our emissions increased by 5% over the last 10 years. Russia, one of the largest members of the Kyoto Protocol, managed a 28% decrease in its overall emissions since 1990. On a global scale, The US now accounts for less than half of the world’s total emissions, which is down from 1990 where we were closer to two thirds. There was a global decline in greenhouse gas production in the economic downturn of 2009, though this decline was very minor, accounting for only 1% of the CO₂ emissions. Most industrialized nations’ emissions fell anywhere between 7 to 12 percent during the economic downturn in 2009.

I believe that this is an example of the American public not viewing the global climate as a problem. The rest of the world has already taken action to combat global climate change, through the reduction of their greenhouse gas production, and we here in the US have increased our production of emissions. It seems that our “Green” movements here have been ineffective at actually reducing our carbon output, just judging off of the statistics that this study provides. This could be due to the expense of “going green,” and how corporate our government in America has become. I believe that’s the real reason that we rejected the Kyoto Protocol, because it would’ve been too expensive for our corporations to continue expanding their profit margins.

http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/43284