Combating Global Warming

Autor: Joel D. Scheraga
Rok vydání: 1990
Předmět:
Zdroj: Challenge. 33:28-32
ISSN: 1558-1489
0577-5132
DOI: 10.1080/05775132.1990.11471439
Popis: There is increasing concern about the greenhouse effect and implications that it could produce serious environmental and economic problems: a rise in sea level, changes in agricultural productivity, geographic shifts in agricultural activities, forest dieback and migration, variations in the availability of water resources, loss of wetlands, and changes in biodiversity. Concern about these effects has fostered proposals for potentially costly legislation to limit human activities that contribute to the greenhouse effect. At least seven bills related to global climate change have been introduced in Congress. Two of them call for a 20 percent reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by the beginning of the 21st century, and a third calls for a 50 percent reduction. The costs to society of trying to mitigate or adapt to uncertain global warming could be enormous. A 20 percent reduction in CO2, for example, might require significant investments in new, more energy efficient capital equipment, taxes to induce energy conservation, and significant changes in life-styles. Unfortunately, these costs are not well understood and certainly have not yet been fully quantified. Critical examination of the potential socioeconomic and environmental effects of a global warming is essential, including the potential magnitude of costs or benefits associated with various scenarios. The ef
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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