Are you aware of our Earth’s dilemma? The year 2016 was the hottest year to ever be recorded on earth with astonishingly high temperatures across the globe. Global warming is the increase of Earth’s global temperature due to higher levels of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere causing other issues such as rising sea levels, the destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather. Humans are believed to be the primary cause of global warming because we continue to emit excess amounts of carbon dioxide in our daily activities, primarily by burning fossil fuels. Although Global warming deniers try and disproof its existence with empirical data, anthropogenic global warming is a very real phenomenon and is one of the biggest environmental problems we face today, but by implementing the right carbon emission mitigation policy, and returning the concentration of carbon dioxide concentration in the air to 350 parts per million or below, we can prevent future submergence of cities, destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather, as well as help stimulate the American economy. 

One might object the existence and worldwide concerns of global warming based on recent empirical data. According to a 2003 study by researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, “Many records reveal that the 20th century is probably not the warmest nor a uniquely extreme climatic period of the last millennium” (Soon & Baliunas). Another study conducted in 2013 published in the Boreas Journal concluded that “summer temperatures during the Roman Empire and Medieval periods were consistently higher than temperatures during the 20th century” (Kullman). Global warming deniers use empirical data such as these two studies which show the earth being hotter in the past, to support their beliefs that global warming doesn’t really exist and that it’s not a real problem. These discoveries indicating that the earth was hotter in the past than in current time may be true, but it’s also true that in current time human activities are contributing to the continuously rising global temperatures, sea levels, sea temperatures, destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather. The continuous rise in global temperatures correlates with the rise in sea levels which may lead to submerged land and cities in the near future. The rise in global temperatures also correlates with the rise in sea temperatures which has already been responsible for the destruction of entire ecosystems that plants and animals depend on for survival. The most underestimated problem relating to higher global temperatures is the rise in numbers of  severe storms and weather. The rise in more severe storms and weather events is damaging infrastructure, destroying homes, and hurting the American economy. Anthropogenic global warming and the issues associated with the change in climate are quite palpable, but by implementing the right carbon emission mitigation policy and returning the concentration of carbon dioxide concentration in the air to 350 parts per million or below, these issues can be resolved.

A policy created by the Citizens Climate Lobby Organization can resolve global warming and the other problems linked to it. The Citizens Climate Lobby Organization is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization focused on national policies to address climate change. The Citizens Climate Lobby Organization has created a policy called the “Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy” which is a sustainable solution to global warming (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). The Carbon Fee and Dividend “would place a predictable, steadily rising price on carbon, with all fees collected minus administrative costs returned to households as a monthly energy dividend” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). If this policy was to be enacted the “fee on greenhouse gas emissions would be $15 per ton emitted, this includes the gases carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons, and nitrogen trifluorides” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). Each year, “the fee for a ton of greenhouse gas emitted would increase by at least $10 to avoid irreversible climate change and to reach the carbon emission mitigation goal which is a carbon dioxide concentration level of 350 parts per million or below” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy would also send “equal monthly dividends to all American households to ensure that families and individuals can afford the energy they need in the transition to a more greenhouse gas free economy” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). Children under “18 years old would receive a payment as well, but it would be half of what legal adults collect with a limit of 2 children per household” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). These dividends would be split equally from “100 percent of the net carbon fees” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). 

The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy is a promising policy created by an organization of people who really care and want to make the world a better place. Studies show that “in just 20 years, The Carbon Fee and Dividend policy could reduce carbon emissions to 50% of 1990 levels while adding 2.8 million jobs to the American economy” (“Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy”). Adding 2.8 million jobs in the United States would stimulate our economy tremendously and reducing carbon emissions by 50% in just 20 years will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide concentration in the air and get us on the right track to our concentration goal of 350 parts per million or below. Top climate scientist James Hansen agrees that The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy is the best solution to global warming, and he could not stress it enough in his eye opening Ted Talk titled “Why I must speak out about climate change”. The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy would return the carbon dioxide concentration level back to 350 parts per million or below by reducing carbon emissions, and would prevent future submergence of cities, destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather by decreasing sea levels, sea temperatures, and air temperature as a result of less carbon dioxide in the air. This policy would also create millions of jobs and help stimulate the American economy. Even with all its glory, this policy still hasn’t been enacted and we continue to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each and every day. 

Humans burning fossil fuels is the primary influence on global warming and it’s increasing the carbon dioxide concentration levels in the atmosphere. Since 1750, an “estimated 67 percent of carbon dioxide emissions have come from humans burning fossil fuels” (Willard). In the highly demanding industrial world we live in today the rate of consumption and the need for resources has far surpassed that of the Industrial Revolution, resulting in the emission of more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to the article “Causes of Global Warming: The Human Impact”, the fossil fuel retrieval, processing, and distribution sector “accounts for 11.3 percent of  greenhouse gas emissions”. The coal we burn to generate electricity and the oil we burn to power our vehicles and aircrafts are both examples of how we release carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere as a “byproduct from the changed organic state of carbon” (“Causes of Global Warming: The Human Impact”). Carbon dioxide plays a huge role in the greenhouse effect which is the process responsible for the earth increasing in temperature. The greenhouse effect is when the suns solar energy passes through the earth’s atmosphere and warms the earth with “about 30% of the energy reflecting back into space”(Lallanila). Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are responsible for trapping the remaining 70% of energy that is not reflected back into space, into the earth’s atmosphere. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere during the pre-industrial era was “280 parts per million and today it is just above 400 parts per million and still rising” (Willard). The “safe level of carbon dioxide concentration is 350 parts per million and below, while the dangerous level of carbon dioxide concentration is 450 parts per million and above” (Willard). With the current carbon dioxide concentration level in our atmosphere being just above 400 parts per million and still on the rise, our future looks dull with the possibility of reaching the dangerous level of 450 parts per million. According to the 2013 report called “Busting The Carbon Budget” written by a U.K. based organization named PWC, the current rate of fossil fuel usage in the global economy will exceed the carbon dioxide concentration level of 450 parts per million by 2034. The year 2034 is closer than one would think, and the possible impacts of entering the dangerous level of 450 parts per million such as more frequent severe storms and weather is scary. By enacting the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy, we can prevent the carbon dioxide concentration levels from entering dangerous levels, reach the goal of a safe carbon dioxide concentration level at 350 parts per million or below, reduce global temperatures, and prevent the increased frequency of severe storms and weather. Since the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy is not active, global warming and problems related to the increase of global temperatures continue to get worse. 

 The increase of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is trapping more heat and energy  causing global temperatures and sea levels to increase. The “oceans absorb 80 percent of the additional heat trapped in the earth’s atmosphere” and is one of the reasons why sea levels are rising (“Sea Level Rise”).  Sea levels increase from this because “water at higher temperatures expand more for a given heat input” (“Factors Contributing to Sea Level Change”). In simpler words, the higher the temperature of water the more space the water takes up thus increasing sea level. The increase in global temperature is also melting land ice, ice caps, glaciers, and ice sheets resulting in the increase in sea levels. The accelerated rate of melting ice “has contributed to about 80% of the global sea level rise” (“Causes of Sea Level Rise: What the Science Tells Us”).  The rise in sea levels has resulted in an increase of water altitude in flooding incidents coming mainly from ocean storms. These floods have caused a lot of costly damage to infrastructure which is detrimental to the U.S economy, and has destroyed many homes. In 2016, “The U.S. experienced 4 billion-dollar inland flood events, doubling the previous record, as no more than 2 inland flood events have occurred in a year since 1980” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we can expect the oceans to rise “between 11 and 38 inches by 2100, enough to swamp many of the cities along the U.S. East Coast” (“Sea Level Rise”). The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy would prevent future sea levels from flooding land and cities by mitigating carbon dioxide emissions which would decrease global temperatures, sea temperatures, and sea levels. However the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy has not been enacted, and the impacts of  global warming continue to get worse such as the destruction of ecosystems.

Coral reef ecosystems are being destroyed due to global warming and the increase in sea temperatures. Coral reefs are beautiful and colorful underwater forests which teem with life and act as “a natural protective barrier for coastal regions” (“Global Warming and Coral Reefs”). The plants and fish that live within these reefs are of rich biodiversity and depend on the reefs for food and shelter. Coral reefs are actual living organisms themselves which “form when the living portion of stony corals known as polyps, extract calcium from seawater and combine it with carbon dioxide to construct the elaborate limestone skeletons that form the reef” (“Global Warming and Coral Reefs”). The rise in sea temperature is destroying coral reefs by a process called coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is when “corals respond to the stress of warmer temperatures by expelling the colorful algae that live within them” (“Global Warming and Coral Reefs”). Although sometimes coral can recover from bleaching, they often die from the process and “in one year alone 16% of the coral reef ecosystems were wiped out” (“Global Warming and Coral Reefs”). It’s a shame to see an ecosystem as diverse and beautiful as the coral reefs be destroyed by global warming, a complication that we can solve but continue to make worse. The Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy would be able to help coral reef ecosystems survive by mitigating carbon dioxide emissions. With less carbon dioxide in the air the global temperatures and sea temperatures would decrease and there would be less occurrences of coral bleaching taking place in the seas. Another problem caused by global warming that the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy could put an end to is the increase in severe storms and weather. 

Due to global warming, dangerous severe storms and weather has been occurring more frequently. The increased temperature in the earth’s atmosphere enables it to “collect, retain, and drop more water, which changes weather patterns in such a way that make wet areas wetter and dry areas drier” (Denchak). The atmosphere’s ability to retain and drop more rain due to warmer temperatures has caused many severe flooding incidents. In 2016, there were several flooding incidents that caused over $1 Billion, but severe flooding is just one example of severe weather caused by global warming. In 2016, there were “15 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each across the United States” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). These events included 1 drought event, 4 flooding events, 8 severe storm events, 1 tropical cyclone event, and 1 wildfire event. These events “resulted in the deaths of 138 people and had significant economic effects on the areas impacted” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). 

A notable storm from 2016 is Hurricane Matthew. Hurricane Matthew was recorded to had “killed 49 people and caused an estimated $10 billion in damage” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). The most costly impacts were “due to historic levels of river flooding in eastern North Carolina where 100,000 homes, businesses and other structures were damaged” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). For the years “1980–2016 the annual average for climate disaster events  is 5.5 events and the annual average for the most recent 5 years (2012–2016) is 10.6 events” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”).  The annual average for climate disaster events has nearly doubled in the most recent 5 years and 2016’s four flooding events costing over $1 billion has also doubled replacing the “old record of two flooding events since 1980” (“Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Overview”). Global warming is obviously attributing to the more frequent severe storms and weather, which is causing billions of dollars in damage, hurting our economy, and destroying people’s homes and assets. The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions that would result from the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy, would decrease global temperatures and help prevent more frequent severe storms and weather from happening in the future.

Anthropogenic global warming primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels is causing a lot of damage to our world, but it can be solved and future dangerous impacts can be prevented. The increase in the atmospheres carbon dioxide concentrations and global temperatures has resulted in the rise in sea levels, destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather. All of these problems have already destroyed the homes of wild animals, the homes of U.S. citizens, and hurt the U.S. economy. By enacting the Carbon Fee and Dividend Policy we can reach our goal of a safe level of carbon dioxide concentration at 350 parts per million or below, and prevent future submergence of cities, destruction of ecosystems, and more frequent severe storms and weather, as well as help stimulate the American economy. 
