Climate change pt 2.

Stevie Hankins

English 1110.01 AU19

Professor Weiser

 

Do Companies Care About The Climate?

 

How much, if at all, do companies care for the environment? They have policies in play to reduce the amounts of emissions they can release into the environment. However, most companies don’t go beyond the minimum. So why are everyday people expect to pick up the slack for multimillion and billion-dollar companies? Because companies like to push blame and keep the money they make. Which David Roberts backs up and former president, Barack Obama. Although there are those few companies teaming up with scientists, like the Zimov’s, to make a difference. Although that might not be enough.

 

The three previously mentioned people have all written about the subject of climate change. Those like the Zimov’s are committed to slowing and preventing it through the wild idea of woolly mammoths and large grasslands. Barack Obama seems to believe that the climate on its way to being slowed as the economy grows, seeding as in recent years emissions have decreased from previous years. While David Roberts seems much more certain that it’s possible to stop the change but not by people living green alone.

 

Roberts is on to something, people who live green lives tend to counteract their own and other peoples green deeds (136). He even goes on to state that individuals cant make up for companies’ emissions “even if every American could get their lifestyle missions down somewhere close to that baseline it still wouldn’t be nearly enough to solve climate change. To reduce Americans per capita baseline to sustainable levels will require decarbonizing power, transportation, and industry, goals over which most individuals have limited control” (136).  Which bring into question Obama’s claims that emissions are falling due to the economy rising (125).  He points out the more recent fall since 2008 “Specifically CO2 emissions from the energy sector fell by 9.5% in 2008 to 2015 while the economy grew by more than 10%” (125 ). The only reason such a fall happened was due to policies that were introduced. Former President Obama had also placed high hopes on The Paris Agreement. Which the US hadn’t signed due to Donald Trump, of which is a billionaire and an owner of many companies. Companies that could be giving money to the Zimov’s to further fund their research and help fund for the clones of their mammoths. For further explanation, as brought up by both the Zimov’s and Obama;  the permafrost in the Arctic is thawing. Which one brings up the strategies to stop it. Lowering emissions, and woolly mammoths. To be brief, grasslands would absorb less heat than the forests that are on the Arctic tundra. To instate these grasslands large herbivores would have to both tear down the forests and spread the grasses, as well as survive the cold. So, in short, their solution is the wooly mammoth (Andersen, 5).

 

In conclusion, why aren’t we, the general public, holding companies to a higher standard? How can we hold them accountable? That may have an answer eventually but it might not be soon enough. In short, don’t try to make up for the companies, it’s not gonna work. Although volunteering to do clean up’s isn’t a terrible idea.

 

Works Cited

 

Andersen, Ross. “Pleistocene park.” The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018, Sam Kean, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, 1-22.

Obama, Barack. “The Irreversible Momentum of Clean Energy.” The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018, Sam Kean, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, 124-132.

Roberts, David “Wealthier  People Produce More Carbon Pollution – Even the “Green” Ones.” The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018, Sam Kean, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018, 133-137.

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