Adapting Technology to Global Warming Professor Ramos Blog

Adapting Technology to Global Warming Most common misconception regarding global warming and climate change is the standardized between these two ideas. Global warming refers to the long-term increasing trend in the average global temperature. Climate change on the other hand is the effect of various phenomena such as global warming to the global climate. It is better visualized as the â€Å"side effects† of warming like heavier typhoons and storms, melting of glaciers, and more and frequent droughts. It can be said that global warming is a result of human-caused climate change. Red bars show global average (land and sea) temperatures above the long-term average, and blue bars indicate temperatures below the long-term average. The black line shows the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Global warming is just a preliminary concern to a bigger problem. With various climate-change phenomenon recently occurring, mitigating solutions should be implemented, another way to proceed is also by adapting the technology to utilize these various changes. Most famous propaganda that tackles solutions to global warming is the Green New Deal (GND). GND is a proposal that contains a list of ideas and eco-supporting platforms that plans to reform the status of US government in terms so sustainability. According to Vinjamuri, this agenda became a widespread concern for most 2020 contenders for election. Their varying stand regarding this proposal is being evaluated by the community. GND has just recently being revived by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex of Bronx. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses the Green New Deal in a crowd at the annual Womens March on 19 January 2019. The proposal described in GND has categorized certain issues and plausible actions toward them. This project was estimated to cost around $1 trillion. As discussed in the GND proposal, suggested innovations can be correlated to renewable energy, smart grid, energy efficiency, transportation, low-tech solutions, cows and climate change, guaranteed jobs, labor laws, public ownership, providing higher education, trade unions, trade deals, indigenous people, health care, housing, security, clean air and water, and healthy food and nature (Sierra Club). One of the main goals of this project is to have a 100 percent clean, renewable, and no-emission energy sources for power supply in the United States in a span of 10 years. This ideology is being questioned if this would be even possible. A lot of investments were already focused on energy industries spending hundreds of billions. The one that GND lacks is the scale comparison with this trading. Along with this topic is the building of energy efficient constructions and smart which purpose is to have affordable electricity consumption. Making these kind of buildings ang innovating them to be green will surely cost a fortune. In 2009, it was estimated that retrofitting a building would cost $4.5 billion while for a public project it would cost $3 billion. With surplus in development plans, one aspect that will also be affected is the job recruitment. This entails a different wage for a family having a certain number of household. For example, a family with one adult will be paid $11.41 while having two adults will have $18.44. And if one adult is working, the wage would be $26.39. With the guaranteed job secured, health care is one of the priorities. The green new deal is an â€Å"imaginative project†. Even though its cause so good and also for the betterment of the future, it will definitely consume a lot of wealth. It was estimated by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, that taxes in the United Sates should go as high as 70 percent to be able to sustain the budget for this proposal. IN the current situation, the top tax rate was 37 percent which was the result of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Tax amounting to almost double of the current state would be a stone-in-the-pocket for the citizens. This concept is highly undoable and considering that the issues discussed in GND are not the only ones tackled by the government. Proper allotment of budget should be observed to have equal observance on problems. However, to have an improvement regarding our actions towards sustainability and climate change, ones community should impose heavy rules and dedicate a huge amount of money in order to achieve it. A way to obtain these proposed agenda is to utilize the naturally occurring catalyst to global warming, the sun. Most projects or technology today are focusing on acquiring renewable energy and converting them to our daily need in terms of powering our homes and easing up the activities in work. Some people are not yet aware of the existence of global warming and its effects. It is and will greatly affect or disturb the balance of the ecosystems. Due to the detrimental effects of this phenomena, solutions should be devised. According to Shahzad, alternate energy sources such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass should be pursued. Finding and using renewable sources of energy is an alternate solution to the ever-increasing global warming effects. Investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy creates smart business sense in United States because it makes new jobs in a wide range of industries, foster innovation and gives competitive edge in global market. Clean technology is a successful one having a global revenue of $900 billion in 2007 and venture capital investment of $8.5 billion in 2008. Nanosolar and Solyndra which manufactures thin-film solar cells are among the top American Companies which business have attracted a huge money (Union of Concerned Scientists). Chinese business has recently expanding their manufacturing of wind turbines and solar cells due to policies that require use of energy efficient technology and renewable energy. They are expecting to generate 155 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2020. According to Hanley, renewable energy is being highly utilized for electricity providing the trend in the figure below. By adopting strong policies to promote this kind of clean technology, one can deliver economic dividends in the form of energy savings, new jobs, growing industries, and further opportunities for innovation. Another opportunity is with utilizing solar energy into farming. Solar energy can cut the expenses for farm’s electricity and heating. Solar heat collectors can be used for drying of crops and warming up homes, livestock buildings, and greenhouses. Solar water heaters provide hot water cleaning pens and dairy operations. Photovoltaics can power farm operations, especially pumping of water from groundwater and lightings. An example of growth in the application of solar photovoltaics in Asia and Africa is shown below (Hanley). Global Warming has always existed and still continuous to implement dangerous threats to the society. We should be able to incorporate our existing technology to be able to adopt to these changes in the environment. Utilizing our renewable resources will sure lessen the detrimental effects but that alone will completely eradicate the problem. We should always play smart in tackling these kinds of situations. If we would not be able to provide fast and concrete solution, we must try to use in our advantage the effects of the global warming such as use of the sun. Works Cited Hanley, Steve. Solar Leads The Way As Renewables Grow Faster Than Expected | CleanTechnica. 2017, https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/05/solar-leads-way-renewables-grow-faster-expected/. Sierra Club. What Is a Green New Deal? 2019, https://www.sierraclub.org/trade/what-green-new-deal. The Future of US Climate Politics | Chatham House. https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/future-us-climate-politics?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIye3R99jb4gIVVwQqCh3b9wayEAAYASAAEgI-RfD_BwE. Accessed 9 June 2019. Shahzad, Umair. Global Warming: Causes, Effects and Solutions.2015, https://www. researchgate .net/publication/316691239_Global_Warming_Causes_Effects_and_Solutions Union of Concerned Scientists. Clean Technology.2010, https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default /files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/ucs-fact-Clean-Tech-w-endnotes-2-10b.pdf Vanjamuri, L. The Future of US Climate Politics | Chatham House. https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/future-us-climate-politics?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIye3R99jb4gIVVwQqCh3b9wayEAAYASAAEgI-RfD_BwE. Accessed 9 June 2019.