The concentration of carbon dioxide in the air is about 403.3 ppm.  This concentration has grown 50% faster than average over the past decade.  Additionally, these high levels have not existed since 3-5 million years ago.  These prehistoric levels are known from tiny air bubbles in ancient Antarctic ice cores, and from fossils and chemicals that are trapped in sediment.  During this era, the temperature was 2-3°C higher, which caused major portions of ice sheets in Greenland and West Antartica to melt.  This caused the sea level to be 10-20 m higher than it is today (Miles).  Therefore, any major increase in global temperature can become catastrophic and wipe out populated low-lying areas.  To prevent this, the Paris climate accord was discussed in Bonn, where countries met to determine how to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil, cement, and deforestation.  In this meeting, countries aimed to prevent temperatures from rising by 2°C and vowed to give at least $100 billion per year by 2020 to “help poor countries develop clean energy and build resilience to disasters” (Plumer).  The United States attended this meeting, although it does want to retreat from the agreement by 2020.

To prevent death and destruction, nations including the United States have to take the issue of global warming seriously.  While at Bonn, the United States argues for developing nations to have more transparency with verifying their emissions, but pushed back proposals from smaller nations which asked that rich countries would be transparent as to where they put the funds to help poorer countries (Plumer).  To be effective and for their own benefit, countries should be as clear, purposeful, and useful as possible.  This holds true since the world’s temperature is set to rise by 3°C in the near future (Plumer).  The only way to prevent this and widespread damage from climate change is to lower greenhouse gas emissions.  To do this, policy changes have to occur in as many countries as possible, which would limit emissions from governments, vehicles, and large businesses.  Money used to do this would be put to good use, and an overall profit would be made since the costs of disasters like flooding and from larger, more damaging hurricanes would be much larger than the amount spent to prevent these disasters from occurring.

 

Miles, Tom. “Carbon Dioxide Levels Grew at Record Pace in 2016, U.N. Says.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 30 Oct. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-greenhouse/carbon-dioxide-levels-grew-at-record-pace-in-2016-u-n-says-idUSKBN1CZ0YB.

Plumer, Lisa Friedman And Brad. “What Happened (and Didn’t) at the Bonn Climate Talks.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/climate/bonn-climate-cop23.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=sectionfront.