Global warming Add-on

I've been asked to post links of some of my sources

1. National Geographic on Global Warming Storms
2. Map of the World
3. Polar Ice Caps
4. Effect of Global Warming ( probably biased)
   

Marta suggested that I talk about the financial aspects of global warming. This will be a subjective post so feel free to disagree. This is basically the tricky part of global warming. For a major change to occur, not only will you need the cooperation of many countries, you will need billions of dollars. I don't think we need to go over the top with helping the environment. I believe that we should do the little things to help nature. Recycling should be required and fines for not recycling should be heavier. Plastic items basically torture the Earth. They cannot be decomposed and basically fill up landfills. Any way to recycle plastics should be used. Cell phones shouldn't be thrown. There are millions of people around the world who would like the cell phone. Just recycle it, let a factory polish it up a bit, and give/sell it secondhand to another person. If at all possible, people should start biking to nearby places instead of driving a few blocks. It would be a great exercise and help the environment. These are the kind of little things that need to be enforced.

Of course, (assuming global warming is real) there is a lot more that needs to be done. If global warming isn't real, well then, you can do these things to help out the environment. Alternative fuels would be a great asset in helping the environment and possibly stopping global warming. A humble suggestion to the government, they should offer rewards to helping create alternative fuels. For example, if someone were to come up with a practical and reasonably priced way to create a solar powered car, he should be rewarded in cash (or check), given a patent, and possible a medal/prize for his discovery that helped the environment. A reward of 10 million dollars would be a good way to convince the smart peeps out there to get thinking. Now in order to really help the environment, emissions have to be cut. This is where it gets tricky. I believe a carbon tax would not work out at the moment. There are way too many companies out there and there is too much CO2 being emitted. You would need to take this slowly. First, there needs to be an agreement between countries to cut emissions. It has to be a group effort. If one person does it nicely but no one else does, it is useless. An example is Switzerland, the greenest country of them all. The level of difference they made in the world's environment- not so much. A major, well thought-out contract has to be agreed to and strictly followed. Maybe a 10 point plan to cut 30% of CO2 emissions globally. (I don't know what the 10 points are) ( what i do know is that it will take cooperation and a lot of $$$)

Well, you would think I'm done but you are wrong. I now have to talk about the social aspects. In all due respect to Al Gore, i believe that he exaggerated the effects of global warming. The media is making global warming sound a lot worse then I along with many to believe. The exaggeration has pros and cons however. Pros- helps promote greener environment. Cons- they lied to us. Society is split because of global warming. Some say it exists, some say it doesn't. some say we should help out either way, and some just don't care. I really doubt that the general community would all bond together and say " lets stop global warming" until it is a little too late or " lets not stop global warming" when its a little too early. Society won't come to a consensus any time soon. What the media should try to say is instead of " global warming is real and we should take drastic measures now", they should say " global warming or not, lets help out the environment." At least they would be telling the truth.

If it were to be decided that global warming is bogus, then society would continue living as it does now. If it is decided that it was real, then society would do a 180 and have to change the way they live. They would bike and walk more. Recycling would be a must. They might have to switch their electricity and appliances into their more environmentally friendly counterparts. New cars would need to be bought or old cars modified. Everything would change and some people just aren't ready for that.

What a messy issue.