Global warming may just be something we think about when we hear it, then forget about it later. Currently, dangerous levels are coming if we do not develop a tool to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. A rise in temperature by 1.5 degrees celsius is projected which is well above pre-industrial temperatures.
This means more severe rain, snow events, a rise in sea levels, damage to agriculture and displacement of people. These changes will throw society into mayhem with more disasters then ever before.
Senior at Cabrini University Theresa Mignogna, who takes the environmental science bio perspectives class, said “we need to make a change now, because if we keep disrespecting our planet, we may never be able to recover.”
Fixing the issue is not a cheap job. It costs $1,000 to take out a single ton of CO2 from the atmosphere. Although this job would be cheaper now then in the future, we have yet to take action. The question “how” is still raised; how do people help this issue<
Engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Howard Herzog wrote a book titled “Carbon Capture,” where he explains that it’s more of a hope then reality for the improvement of the environment. He says the best way to help the problem is to not release CO2 into the atmosphere. This idea of not releasing is possible but would mean burning biomass to make electricity.
Currently one percent of the U.S. electricity is made by burning biomass. It is very expensive and requires crops, using the crops raising food prices. For it to be economical, the biomass would have to be crop waste or special crops like switchgrass. Switchgrass would not raise prices of food because it is not in demand.
Another way to reduce greenhouse gases is grow more forests. Growing more trees would absorb more of the CO2. The problem with this is there is not enough space and land to make it possible.
People need to reduce 40-50 percent of emission use by 2030 to not have this huge issue with global warming. This would mean a carbon-neutral world with no added greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2050. This is very unlikely unless people develop a tool to reduce the gases.
“I am not sure what the answer is for our future, but any chances we have to lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the greenhouse gases we must take and complete fully,” said Mignogna. “We also need a better educational system regarding global warming. If we cannot educate, we have no hope of saving our planet.”
