CO2 Emission

Relevance

The optimist vs. pessimist debate for CO2 emissions centers around the effect that it has on the planet’s temperature and the future production of the green house gas. Essentially this is a global warming debate as well. This debate seems to be dominated by the pessimists, who believe that the Earth’s temperature could rise as much as 4.5 degrees Celsius and the ocean’s level could rise as much 43 cm, both of which would have devastating effects on Earth’s life and human society. In addition, they believe the world is not doing enough to limit CO2 production, with the US being the biggest offender.

Optimist

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), co-winners of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice-President Al Gore, predicts that if green house gas emissions could be kept at current levels than 2 degrees Celsius. In addition, the oceans may only rise 14 cm. Still, no one really knows what the impact of what just 14 cm could mean for the world. Nearly 50% of Americans live within 50 miles of the ocean.

The IPCC is supposed to be an objective source on climate change, so it does publish papers that argue against the belief that humans are creating the climate change.

There is however, also the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change that argues the sun has a greater effect on climate. The Heartland Institute recently drafted a report for the IPCC called “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate.” In this report the authors attack the idea that ice cap melting and warming oceans mean that humans must be causing the warming. According to the report, ice cap melting is a consequence of warming and does not indicate whether it is anthropogenic or natural. There are also many other factors that affect them, and they are not accurate measure of warming. The NIPCC also argues that there is no conclusive evidence to support the connection between temperature and CO2 levels. Though global warming is widely accepted as being caused by humans, there are some who still argue otherwise and would likely consider themselves to be optimists.

The optimists can also look at the changes that are being made to curb CO2 emissions. Hybrid car sales are soaring, it seems that oil reserves are running out, and many countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Pessimist

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References

Population | CO2 Emission | Fossil Fuel Reserves | Renewable Energy | Free Trade | Agriculture