From Drmills

Contribution to Book

Climate Change: Possible Solutions on International, National, Local and Individual levels

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Climate change is a natural occurrence that transforms throughout time. However, the rapid change in climate has brought much attention to taking action towards conserving and creating a better understanding of our earth. The warming of the earth, in particular, is a topic that has grown great awareness, which is also known as global warming. Moreover, they are possible steps our world can undertake in order to lower the pace of global warming. In this section, we will discuss how societies are responding to this issue internationally, locally and individually. Furthermore, we will also introduce certain adjustments that can be done globally and individually in order to decrease global warming. Your opening section doesn't make crystal clear whether or not you are arguing that there is a man-made component to global warming, in addition to natural cycles. You might add a bit re this.

International response
An international response has emerged to face the issue of global warming and what actions can be done to prolong the process. The developed of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in May 9, 1992, was a major step towards this change. This international treaty unites countries to work together to save our earth and adjust to the climate change (UNFCCC, 2008). Under this program, in December 1997, an international agreement known as, The Kyoto Protocol, was developed as a response to the continuation increase of greenhouse gases to the earth. However, it was not until February 16, 2005, the protocol began to take place (Wikipedia, 2008). This protocol focuses more on developed countries, since they are the ones that emit most of the greenhouse gases. The protocol distinguishes between developed and developing nations. Therefore, Annex 1 category is for the developed countries, in which the treaty limits the countries emission of the greenhouse gases by forcing them to reduce the amount of gases produced in their country (Pew Center, 2008). Since, there is a variation of amount of gases produce throughout the range of developed countries, the assigned rate varies. However, the category non-annex 1 focuses on developing countries’ contributions, but does not have concrete numerical limits for these countries (Wikipedia, 2008). So far, 174 parties have ratified the treaty, which contains 36 developed countries and 137 developing countries such as Brazil, China and India (Wikipedia, 2008).

Since we are not writing for an expert audience, it would be helpful to very briefly outline the connection between greenhouse gases and global warming.

Watch for small grammar errors in the writing. There are quite a few.

Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol)

Locally
Although the United States has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, other actions towards confronting global warming are being conduced in various states, as noted below:

Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
In the Northeastern region of the United States, 10 states have thus far participated in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program. With the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the program places a cap and trade on power plant’s emissions of greenhouse gases. The participating states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland and Rhode Island. The observer states and regions are Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Eastern Canadian Provinces (Wikipedia, 2008)

Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord
The Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord is a regional agreement from governors of the United States Midwest to work towards reducing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted (MGA, 2007). In this agreement the states Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio and South Dakota are involved in the movement. The program aims to maintain record of the usage of greenhouse gas emissions. It also entails timeframes and goals of reduction of the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted per state (Wikipedia, 2008) What are the goals of these efforts? It's important to know the scope of the problem and the potential solutions.

The Western Governor’s Association
The Western Governor’s Association (WGA) has come together to address the challenges of energy production and its effects on climate change. The 16 governors from western states in the United States, yearly develop a new agenda to reach their goals. For 2007-2008 agenda, the goals are as following, “clean and diversified energy: bring on-line 30,000 megawatts of a new clean energy by 2015, increase efficiency 20 percent by 2020, develop adequate electricity transmission capacity for the region, and alternative fuels” (WGA, 2008). Furthermore, the association also wants to reduce carbon and prepare for impact just in case disaster occurs.

Green Building
Green building is the construction of structures in a format that energy is conserved, reusable, and better for our environment. From the location of windows to the rooftop, every part of the building or home is clearly thought out. This arrangement provides a healthier way to live life for human as well as the environment. Some of the main benefits of green building are that it can help save money, improve public and personal health, and the effects on the environment are reduced (Wikipedia, 2008). A few hints of the major design ideas behind green building here in the text would be useful.

Source: sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/.../gboc.html (www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/.../gboc.html)

Individually
We are residents of this earth and our personal actions do affect our atmosphere. Therefore, our consumption of certain products can help to reduce the release off toxic gases to our atmosphere. Also our designs of our home, the car we decide to drive and consumptions of harmful products can help reduce the effects of global warming. Change can occur in various levels such as nationally, locally and individually in order to work towards conserving our earth.

References
Green Building (2008, February 20, 2008). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_building
Kyoto Protocol (2008, February 5). Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Retrieved February 5, 2008, from source http://www.pewclimate.org/what_s_being_done/in_the_world/kyoto_enters_into_force/
Kyoto Protocol. (2008, February 4). In Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol
Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, (2008, February 20). Midwestern Governor Association, Retrived February 20, 2008, from http://www.midwesterngovernors.org/govenergynov.htm
Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, (2008, February 20). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_Greenhouse_Gas_Reduction_Accord
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2008, February 4). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://unfccc.int/essential_background/items/2877.php
Western Governors Association, (2008, February 20). Western Governors Association. Retrieved February 20, 2008, from http://www.westgov.org/wga_strategic_agenda.htm

External Links
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/
http://www.us-cap.org/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/view/
http://www.climate-solutions.org/
http://www.chevron.com/globalissues/climatechange/sevenprinciples/
http://www.epa.gov/greenkit/index.htm
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lg1TZmBmCIs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Efnwez65pPY
http://www.greenbuildermag.com
http://www.productsgreen.com/

It would be great to have a few words with each link to let us know what to expect when we click there.

There's no real sense here that there is any disagreement whatsoever about global warming or about whether any of the proposed activities is widely expected to work.  Add a bit about this if you can find the info.

RATING SHEET

Scale: 1 - 5 (5 is best)

_3__ discovered, integrated and synthesized relevant information about the topic

_3__ critical analysis of information (of both corroborating and non-corroborating evidence)

_3__ conclusions based on evidence, especially empirical evidence, not simply opinion

_4__ written in an impartial, objective tone

_4__ the contribution fits in well with the existing outline and material

_3_ writing is of high quality: interesting, flows, analytic, good argumentation, organized

_5__ used APA style referencing appropriately (including reference list)

For the wiki book only:

_3__ included a list of relevant external web links for more information

__4__ included relevant graphics

Grade: B-

Note: If you revise the above, per the suggestions, and replace the corresponding material in the wiki book, your

grade will be adjusted upward by 1/2 grade.

Contribution to Blog

I was a little puzzled when i read that the United States is one the developed countries that has not signed the Kyoto Protocol treaty.  The United States is one of the most developed countries that contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases through industrial work, especially transportation.  The model of transportation that we use in the United States does not help the global warming situation.  Last year I studied abroad in Bonn, Germany, and I was amazed that I never really saw any SUV's or huge trucks.  The residents in Bonn would walk, take the subway, use bikes or small economical cars as their forms of transportation.  The United States needs to be more active in facing this issue because it affects everyone in the world, especially our future generations.  Hopefully, the United States will sign the treaty soon because we need unity throughout the world.  Furthemore, I think that corporations need to be taxed more for their contributions to the emission of greenhouse gases.  Also,  there needs to be more awareness of proper disposing of ink cartilages, computer screens, computers and televisions.  We are producing too much waste daily.  As a society we need to change the way we live.  A good solution I believe is the green building architecture.  It is better for the environment and in the long run we end up saving money.  Similarily, certain cars such as the hybrid might be more expensive to purchase, but in the long run it pays off because you save money on gas.  I am actually thinking of buying a car this year.  After becoming more aware of global warming and the gashouse effects, I am willing to spend more money for a Hybrid than buy a car that burns more gas.  Although, the Hybrid might not be stylish like a Hummer, I would rather help preserve our earth.

Email contribution

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Efnwez65pPY
This is a short interesting video I found while during my research for Portfolio #2. It is basically talks about how homes are being built in order to conserve more energy. They are known as Green Builders, which is a trend that’s spreading world wide as a way to combat global warming and conserve our resources. This video, in particular, concentrates on homes in Georgetown. Hope everyone enjoys it!