Editorial: Global Climate Treaty

The Earth is warming up. Sea levels are rising, weather is becoming more extreme and animal species are going extinct every day. A big cause is the greenhouse gases and carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US is responsible for 19 percent of those emissions.

Charts showing trend in global carbon dioxide emissions, 1850-2010, and global greenhouse gas emissions by gas and by source; a new report by the U.N.’s climate panel says people are the “dominant cause” of global warming. MCT 2013

We have room for improvement, but we’re not the only contributor. China produces 23 percent, while European Union produces 13 percent, according to the EPA. To try to stall and fight back against global warming, the Harbinger believes the US needs to push for a global treaty to fight climate change. A treaty that would solidify regulations and standards across the world to bring down carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

By the end of the century, lands across the world, from the Netherlands to China, that 215 million people call home now will be at or below sea level, according to weather.com. People living in cities like Boston and New Orleans in the US all the way to Guangzhou, China, Mumbai, India and Amsterdam in the Netherlands will be at serious flood risks.

Sea levels rising won’t be the only concern if we continue in the direction we’re going. With global warming, droughts have become drier, longer and more frequent, according to the EPA.

In the US, California is in its fourth year of severe drought. With the nation’s largest agricultural producer in a serious drought, global warming is bound to take it’s toll on the economy, destroying thousands of jobs and raising food prices across the nation.

Droughts in impoverished countries could have an even deadlier effect. In Somalia, a severe drought has caused thousands to starve as terrorist groups have blocked United Nations aid to  the people.

The Earth is warming and it’s impossible to stop it, but not to slow it down. The goal set by the UN Summit is to only allow the temperature to rise by 2 degrees celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). If something isn’t done soon to curb emissions, the temperature and sea levels will rise and the crisis will get worse.

The US produces its share of greenhouse gases. We’re responsible for the climate change the planet is going through right now. There are things we need to do to help curb the rising temperature. We need to regulate the amount of greenhouse gases that can be put into the air around the world and encourage investment in green technologies here in the US and in countries like China that rely heavily on coal.

But we’re not the only ones responsible. China and Europe are both spewing out these chemicals into our atmosphere too. That’s why we need a global response to this crisis.

European Union countries, according to the UN Climate Summit, have already said they’d cut their carbon emissions by 40 percent of their 1990s level. Europe’s cuts need to become the global standard by the year 2030 if the world wants any chance of keeping the temperature of rising higher than 2 degrees.

Climate change is something that will affect every person on the planet, so the entire planet should take part in fixing it. We need global standards and regulations to keep make every nation and country greener. This is a global issue, and we need a global solution.