Idea for global warming?

I was reading 'End of Poverty' when something struck me about economic development. I also tried to linked to global warming, which is like the biggest issue humanity will face for the next century. The fact is that there are still many third world countries that thirsty for economic development. The Amazon rain forest is recognised as the lungs of Mother Earth. Yet, when it comes to economic development, environmental exploitation seems to a necessity. I saw before a documentary talking about the Brazilian government looking to pass an act to resume the construction of a highway that would cut through the Amazon rainforest to reduce the transport time and cost of moving essential commodities from the south to the east ports for exportation to its global markets. This move is well supported by local farmers as it will reduce their transportation cost and benefit the whole economic. Yet, some would feel that destroying the lungs of the planet is genocide for the entire planet. That's the problem, and also what I want to address. Now you have some background information about it, I will go to my proposed solution.

Many have heard the possibility of establishing a carbon market, the trading of carbon emission rights by countries to ensure that global carbon emissions are maintained by a free-market mechanism. Incentives and a free-trading market (from what I see) seem to be a very economist way of proposing solutions. But how about establishing a oxygen market? Countries could 'measure' the amount of oxygen their lands produce, and work out possibility ways to increase incentives or punishments for various countries. For example, I feel that industrialised countries should recognise the value of the Amazon rainforest, and somehow, reward the countries that are maintaining their forest, in which are maintaining the global ecosystem. If not, countries like Brazil have more incentive to destroy the Amazon rainforest than maintain them. In fact, the world needs it even more, and I feel that the world should pay them, the keepers of our lungs, before we all choke from the pollution we produce.

Sorry for the sketchy proposal to the problem of the century. I am just an economics undergraduate with only limited economics knowledge.

Push for renewable energy

Why push for renewable energy? I think global warming may be a reason, but for those that do not know, there is another school of thought that feels that its the Sun's abnormal solar activity that is causing global warming, and not human activities. That is something that is still up for debate. However, I think there are other reasons that we should all go for renewable energy.

1) Pollution. Carbon emissions are a danger to our health. Like cigarette smoke to our health, all the fossil fuel burning is destroying our health, our crops, our buildings.

2) Exhaustion of our fossil fuels. There have been predictions that they will be fully depleted within our lifetimes. By then, what will our lives be? Night with no lights. No computers, no vehicles, no a lot of things.

That's all that I can think of for now. Still, I think there are more points than here. I hope there will really be a push for renewable energy, and not just for economic reasons, but for bigger reasons.

Recycling Aluminum

Below are some interesting facts about aluminum and aluminum can recycling.

• Discovered in the 1820s, aluminum is the most abundant metal on earth.
• Over 50% of the aluminum cans produced are recycled.
• A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That's closed loop recycling at its finest!
• Aluminum is a durable and sustainable metal: 2/3 of the aluminum ever producted is in use today.
• Every minute of everyday, an average of 113,204 aluminum cans are recycled.
• Making new aluminum cans from used cans takes 95 percent less energy and 20 recycled cans can be made with the energy needed to produce one can using virgin ore.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours or run your television for three hours.
• Last year 54 billion cans were recycled saving energy equivalent to 15 million barrels of crude oil - America's entire gas consumption for one day.
• Tossing away an aluminum can wastes as much energy as pouring out half of that can's volume of gasoline.
• In 1972, 24,000 metric tons of aluminum used beverage containers (UBCs) were recycled. In 1998, the amount increased to over 879,000 metric tons.
• In 1972, it took about 22 empty, aluminum cans to weigh one pound. Due to advanced technology to use less material and increase durability of aluminum cans, in 2002 it takes about 34 empty aluminum cans to weigh one pound.
• The average employee consumes 2.5 beverages a day while at work.
• The empty aluminum can is worth about 1 cent.

This is from http://www.earth911.org/master.asp a website abt recycling.....

Recycling in Spore

Hai.... searching the internet for resources for recycling things. Realised that paper cannot be recycled forever, as its fiber will break after each recycling. Thus, there will be a limit till the paper fibers are too weak to be recycled. Not all plastics can be recycled, but only certain types. Only certain metals can be recycled, and they can be recycled forever, unlike paper, but i forgot wat are they already. They rest i forgot, haha.. have to go back n read. But other than that, i cant find anything local, n recycling in Spore is quite difficult.

Ever wonder y there are elderly people collecting metal cans from rubbish bins, n there are people driving ard collecting old newspapers? They are for the purpose for a livinglihood, although they are actually helping in the recycling of waste. If only people can realise that recycling can be a profitable biz also.

In tawian recently, they have a law that is punishable by fine that every household have to sort out their waste into recyclable n non-recyclable bags (if anyone seeing this feels that this is wrong, plz tell me, my info was from TVBS news, n i might heard the news anchor wrongly). I rem certain countries where people bring out their own bags when they do shopping, so they wun need to have plastic/paper bags from the retail shops. U can request bags from them, but they cost some money also. The issue is not the money, but the awareness that they are doing their part to help reduce waste in the world.

Also, i feel that there is a tendency that people feel that if they have money, they have the power to be wasteful!!!! Its a very bad habit, including wasting water, electricity, paper, natural resources..... U are wasting ur children's water, ur grandchildren's electricity, ur future generations natural resources...... i might still be 'lucky' enough have a life where petrol n fossil fuel are still available. i am not so optmistic for my children. =( By the way, i am not supporting being dependent on fossil fuel. i am all for the use of alternative energy, n renewable energy, but is there such a mkt in Spore???

When u dun save money when u save water, electricity, natural resources.... u save lives, for many future generations to come......

Against pollution

I am appalled when i heard the news that America is not following the other developed nations to follow through the Kyoto Protocol. Apparently, George Bush is staying in an air-con environment for too long to realise the terrible climatic changes happening on the global scale.

The Kyoto Protocol is long overdue. Only now that the various developed nations are taking steps may even be a bit too late, n im quite worried by America's reluctance to join in the act. Its currently the world's largest producer of green house gases, n that w/o its involvement, the act would be complete. I can understand that GB is defending its economy against pressures of e declining Dollar, its largely inflated trade deficit, continual pressures of rising oil prices n also its high unemployment rate.

Its always a huge debate - Can economic growth sustain without causing a strain on the environment. Water, air, noise pollution, depletion of natural resources..... are some of the detrimentals caused by the wonders of economic growth. I still hold the prinicple that health is more important than money. If this only affects America, i dun really care, but its affecting the whole world. For Americans to keep their jobs, the rest of the world have to die w them. Sounds reasonable? Trust GB to be unable to reason ard that. Isnt there really no way of keeping jobs n still reducing the green hse emissions?

However, i do find one thing being unfair to the developed nations, that is that the rapidly growing developing nations, esp China n India, are not included in some way. Maybe not in the protocol, but there shld be some system or law or sth to monitor n control their green hse gas emissions as well. We shld not wait for the monster to grow b4 we slay it. China n India will surpass America in their green hse emissions if they are not checked on as well. I agree w japan that its unfair that they have to pay for their emissions while their economic rivals are not affect at all. Not only is it economically unfair, this is a global problem, n that everyone shld play their part to reduce green hse emissions b4 its too late. This includes Spore, u n i as well.