What's up next for Global Warming
By: Asmaa Hussein
Global warming has been negatively affecting our planet for decades now. Over the past years, we have seen global warming take place and change our planet; from ice caps and mountain glaciers melting, to animals changing their migration patterns and plants changing their dates of activity. Global warming is the gradual heating of the Earth’s surface due to the use of greenhouse gases in the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is caused by the increased quantities of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) in the air. These gases trap the heat from the sun, and cause a rise in temperature in the Earth’s atmosphere. With temperatures increasing and climate patterns changing, we can see more droughts and heat waves occurring, also a drastic increase in sea levels from all the melting ice and glaciers. Human activities are the main reasons for global warming. For centuries, humans have released many greenhouse gases into our atmosphere through factories and warehouses. If we continue to release these gases in the air, not only are we affecting our home and environment, but we are also affecting our health from the air pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels. We need to do something and act fast on this perpetual issue. And we have to start by electing the right president that’s going to take this problem seriously and actually start to make changes to solve it.
Take a look at the timeline on global warming below
There are currently five democrats and two republicans (including Trump) running for president in the 2020 elections. The main three democratic candidates in the lead are: Bernie Sanders, Joe Bideon, and Elizabeth Warren. All three of these candidates have similar perspectives on global warming and the threat it can cause to the safety of our planet. But, they all have different ways of solving the problem.
Bernie Sanders believes that climate change is a moral issue and that we should tax companies for carbon emissions and help fund renewable resources. Sanders plans to cut carbon usage down by 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. Although Sanders is a huge supporter of using natural alternatives to drilling, he is completely opposed to fracking (a form of drilling for oil and gas). He also voted “no” on the passage of the Bush Administration natural energy policy which provided more than $67 billion in loans and guarantees to help support energy projects to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution.
Joe Biden actually introduced the first climate change bill back in 1986 when he was a senator. Biden believes that global warming is completely man-made and he wants us to start on solutions for climate change now and do more as things change. Similar to Sanders, Biden advises to limit fracking to a state level and disallow any new drilling. Back in 2005, Biden voted “yes” to reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025. Though unlike Sanders, Biden voted “yes” to the passage of the Bush Administration natural energy policy.
Elizabeth Warren doesn’t really focus as much on the issues of global warming as the other two candidates, but she does have similar ideas for solutions. Warren wants to completely get off of nuclear energy by 2035 and she wants to transition to green-energy now for long-term growth.
All of these candidates realize the threat of global warming and the dangers of it if we don’t do anything to help the issue. It’s up to you, though, to elect and choose the president most fitted to help solve, or at least, change this problem.