William Tague
Have global emissions stopped growing? According to new data presented at the Paris Climate Conference they may have done just that. In 2014 the green house gases rose only a tiny amount and with 2015 drawing to a close, this year may show a slight decrease by an admittedly tiny 0.6 percent. This however shows that global development maybe flattening off. While normally carbon levels decrease only when there are economic meltdowns there is not one to be blamed here and it is obvious that there could be a trend. While this maybe the start of a long trend downwards on emissions, spurred on by climate activism and the need to reduce our energy consumption, groups like The Global Carbon Project do not consider it very likely. They say instead that with China restarting their growth after a short slump it may not be long until they rise again. That however is not the biggest threat. While energy super powers like United States and Russia are doing little to increase consumption many countries that are impoverished still need to industrialize and follow the massive coal and gas consumption needed to grow their countries. India intends to start a plan to double its burning of coal in power plants which is done to bring over 300 million more people onto the grid. Glen Peter’s says, “Emissions in India are at the same level as China in the 1990s,” and adds on by saying they may follow China’s slope on carbon growth. China, the producer of 25% of the world emissions is a giant that is in need of reforms. While legislative acts have started to gain leeway in stopping some of it people hope that the Paris Climate Conference will be able to convince them in addition to every other country, to make some sort of step in the right direction.
There is a huge relevance between this article and our everyday. While it does show a statistic which may be reassuring to a lot of people about our carbon emissions it also reminds us how coal and gasoline can negatively affect our surroundings. What China, United States, or India may do will affect our planet adversely down the line so it is important to raise our voices to stand up for our planet. It also reminds of a horrible reality in which impoverished people getting electricity and transportation will mean we probably have to stop using as much ourselves to compensate. I think we can take this article as a good thing, as it encourages us that lawmakers and people can at this point make a difference to everyone's carbon footprint since it may not be increasing right now.
I think that this article had a catchy title of “Period of Soaring Emissions May Be Ending, New Data Suggest” however it does sort of send a message that emissions as a whole maybe ending which doesn't make sense. I think it was strongly written however quite brief. It could easily have had just a quick paragraph more on what the consequences of CO2 is in our atmosphere to better reinforce the messages other articles get across and remind people who may only be reading this one. Overall quite interesting and well done, especially to me as a person interested in the topic.
Gillis, Justin, and Chris Buckley. "Period of Soaring Emissions May Be Ending, New Data Suggest." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Dec. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2015/
I thought that Will did an excellent job reviewing this article. One thing that I liked was that he included “Emissions in India are at the same level as China in the 1990s”, which was a quote from an expert on the subject. This allowed me to get a more firm understanding from a primary source rather than something retold by the article. I also enjoyed how he told us why it should matter to us. This helped put the event into perspective, and truly broadened my thought on the subject from something that is scientific to a major international issue. Lastly, I enjoyed how he called the article out for having a sensationalistic title. I also thought that while reading, and I was glad to have my opinion validated.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that could be improved is the number of quotes. Simply adding more quotes would help us get a more grounded view of the issue and have an expert be responsible for what is written, rather than it being just what the author of the article interpreted the information as. Another thing that could be added is more statistics. This would help to put things into perspective as well. For example, simply naming the mass of CO2 that China emits in a year would give an actual value to the figure, rather than simply stating that emissions 25% of the world.
This article really made me feel hopeful. It was very much reasonable, showing that CO2 output was bad, but also that it was decreasing. Generally, these articles either say that climate change is a myth or that we will all be underwater in 5 years. This reasonable perspective helps to give you information on the subject, and I will look at climate change a different way.