Should the government tax corporation’s carbon use?

 

The question, whether or not carbon emission should be taxed, has been a controversial topic for years. Ever since the formation of the EPA in 1970, awareness towards pollution, climate change and the protection of our planet has grown significantly. But in 2017, there are still powerful political leaders who refuse to believe what the science community has been urgent about; action must be taken. Most people are not in favor for additional taxes, Republicans argue a carbon tax will hurt the economy, harm businesses and decreases Americas overall power. But this topic goes deeper than political parties and has no border lines. We are living in an environment that we manipulated, we share this planet with billions of organisms and it is our job to respect our planet for ourselves, our future generations and the diverse group of animals that breath the same air we do.

 

Caron Dioxide is the most common green house gas emitted in the world today. As we can see from the chart, in 2015 Carbon Dioxide made up more than 3/4th of all greenhouse gas emissions, and that number is still rising. One might ask why CO2 is being released so much? Well, Carbon dioxide are natural particles, one carbon and two oxygen atoms. C02 was thought to be present in earths atmosphere shortly after its formation. It is not the first time CO2 levels have took dramatic sides, in fact CO2 levels have fluctuating for billions of years. However, C02 levels have been changing at a slow balanced rate that has sustained life for so long. Yet this is all at jeopardy, CO2 is being used at record breaking levels for commercial and industrial purposes. The advanced technology of our world is largely because of carbon, the key ingredient in fossil fuels. Fossil fuels power America and make daily tasks, like transportation, simpler.

 

Fossil fuels have created a new era of carbon emission, an unbalanced era. Ever since the industrial revolution, Earth has experienced extremely high CO2 levels that have “not been seen in the last 3 million years” (Main Sources..). In the past, carbon levels have been balanced through natural events at a safe and normal rate for earths inhabitants. However in recent time, “human activities such as the burning of oil, coal and gas, as well as deforestation” has lead to an unbalance of carbon levels that are not sustainable nor possible living conditions for many creatures.

 

 

This greenhouse gas helps absorb terrestrial radiation and then send it back down to the surface, hence the “greenhouse”. Global emissions of carbon have increased substantially because of America’s  dependency on fossil fuels for energy/electricity.

Because of this increase in carbon emissions, the global climate is changing and it is affecting everyone. Average temperatures are rising, snowcaps are melting, sea levels and temperatures are rising, and air quality is decreasing. This is important because once again, no matter where you are in the world or how much you are responsible for these record carbon emissions, everyone is affected equally. By implanting a carbon tax on corporation’s who happen to be responsible for a large amount of the America’s emissions, we can start regulating and reduce those corporation’s carbon footprint, which will significantly reduce the annual global carbon emissions. There is no “Planet B”, so we need to start heading in a new direction and look for renewable and sustainable energy.

 

 

References:

1. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2016. Global Green House Gas Emissions Data. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data
2. Ge, Mengpin, Johannes Friedrich, and Thomas Damassa. “6 Graphs Explain the World’s Top 10 Emitters.” World Resources Institute. N.p., 25 Nov. 2014. Web.  https://wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world%E2%80%99s-top-10-emitters
3. Na. Na. What’s your impact? Main sources of carbon dioxide emissions. http://whatsyourimpact.org/greenhouse-gases/carbon-dioxide-emissions

 

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