Government Policy to Curb Climate Change by Reducing the Emissions of Greenhouse Gases

Government policy to curb climate change by reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases
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Government policy to curb climate change by reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases
Climate change exists and is largely caused by human activities. Since the year 1900, the globe’s average temperature has gone up by 0.7 °C, and it is very much warmer in the northern hemisphere today than it has ever been over the last 1,000 years (Tibbetts, 2015). Climate change takes place when lasting weather patterns are changed, for instance as a result of human activity. One measure of climate change is global warming, which is basically an increase in the normal global temperature. This paper identifies and describes the real governmental policy aimed at addressing the issue of climate change. A summary of how the government, which is the producer of the government policy, propose to address climate change is described in an in-depth manner. Furthermore, the scientific issues which this particular governmental policy wishes to address are explained, and the policy is critiqued exhaustively.
The Clean Air Act of 1970
The identified real governmental policy designed to address the issue of climate change particularly in America is The Clean Air Act of 1970. In April 1970 following the upshot of the very first Earth Day, the Congress of the United States enacted the Clean Air Act (CAA) and established the Environmental Protection Agency to put the new regulation into effect (Siegel, Snape & Vespa, 2010).
Scientific issue the governmental policy is addressing
The Clean Air Act seeks to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases which are hazardous to the environment. The six main hazardous gases which comprises Green House Gases include methane, carbon dioxide, sulphur hexafluoride, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons (Ahlers, 2015). Of these harmful GHGs, 3 of them are of great concern given that they are directly linked to human activities. The main contributor to climate change is certainly carbon dioxide, particularly by burning fossil fuels. Nitrous oxide is emitted by burning fossil fuels. It is also emitted by chemical fertilizers and its global warming potential is 310 times that of CO2. Methane is naturally emitted whenever vegetation is rotted, digested or burned without oxygen’s presence. Substantial quantities of methane are produced through production of gas and oil, rice farming, waste dumps and cattle farming (Tibbetts, 2015).
The consequences of the increase in the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are dramatic. The average yearly temperature has warmed by 1.6°C in some parts of the globe such as Canada (Ahlers, 2015). Increased spring and winter temperatures have played a role in this warming trend. Future warming would be accompanied by a number of changes which include the distribution and quantity of ice, snow and rain as well as the risk of extreme weather events like heat waves, forest fires, drought and/or dry spells, and intense rainfalls and associated floods. Other consequences of climate change include altering ocean environments for instance alterations in extreme and average sea level, ice conditions and wave regimes. Substantial decreases in Arctic ice cover, especially in the season of summer, are already apparent and well documented, and they are as a result of human-induced global warming (Siegel, Snape & Vespa, 2010). The atmospheric increase of greenhouse gases has resulted in an enhancement of the natural greenhouse effect (GE). According to Tibbets (2015), it is actually this human-induced enhancement of GE that is of particular concern given that continuing release of GHGs could warm this planet to levels which have never been experienced before. Such climate change may have unpredictable and/or extensive economic, social and environmental results.
How the real governmental policy, Clean Air Act, addresses issue of climate change
The producer of the Clean Air Act is the United States Government. This governmental policy is the far-reaching federal regulation which regulates air emissions from both mobile and stationary sources. This regulation, in addition to other things, approves the Environmental Protection Agency to create National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAGS) aimed at protecting public welfare and health and to regulate the release of dangerous air contaminant (Environmental Protection Agency, 2015). On the whole, this governmental policy is intended to control air pollution across the United States. A number of major amendments have been made to this law that require regulatory controls for air pollution, for instance laws enacted in the year 1970, ’77 and ’90.
In spite of its noteworthy efforts to addressing the issue of climate change, concerns as regards global warming pollution led 12 states including Massachusetts to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over its failure in regulating Green House Gas emissions from automobiles. These states claimed that human-influenced global climate change was bringing about negative effects, for instance rise of the sea-level to Massachusetts State (Ahlers, 2015). In 2007 April, the Supreme Court of the United States made the ruling that Green House Gases including carbon dioxide (CO2) actually meet Clean Air Act’s definition of an air pollutant. The EPA was directed by the Courthouse to find out whether or not emissions of Green House Gas from new automobiles contribute or bring about air pollution which might put public welfare or health in danger the. The Environmental Protection Agency responded in the 2009 by carrying out a comprehensive assessment of the scientific evidence and determined – the endangerment finding – that concentrations of Green House Gases within the atmosphere actually threaten the public welfare and health of both the present and upcoming generations (Environmental Protection Agency, 2015).
Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that the emissions of Green House Gases from new automobiles contribute to the atmospheric concentration of GHGs and therefore to the threat from climate change. As soon as the Environmental Protection Agency had presented its endangerment finding, it went to finalize proposed Green House Gas emissions standards for light-duty automobiles (Tibbetts, 2015). Since the ruling was made, the Environmental Protection Agency has (i) worked together with the Department of Transportation in issuing new fuel efficiency standards for motor vehicles. (ii) EPA has issued regulations that address Green House Gases permitting requirements for big commercial and industrial facilities. (iii) The EPA has put forward the Clean Power Plan which would decrease emissions of Green House Gases from the sector of electricity (Environmental Protection Agency, 2015).
As soon as an air contaminant is subject to regulation under the governmental policy CAA, modified or new major stationary sources of Green House Gases such as industrial facilities and power plants have to employ the Best Available Control Technology in minimizing that contaminant (Ahlers, 2015). President Obama, in June of the year 2013, articulated the government’s climate change plan that comprised various proposals for combating climate change. In 2014 June...