Wilson Xie
087779B12
T7
Un-holesome
In the 1990’s the effects of the increase in average temperature of the globe became a widely debated topic. The term “global warming” was termed to refer to this increasingly thorny predicament which up till now is still deteriorating.
Global warming is a result of “greenhouse effects” which is the change in temperature of a planet caused by the gases in atmosphere that absorbs infra-red radiation. Examples of such gases are Carbon monoxide, Carbon dioxide, Methane, and Sulphur Oxide. The listing of these gases go beyond just formalities, they present a paradigm of the situation which until now remains unresolved. That is the contention of developing countries versus the non-developing countries.
Developing countries such as China, Malaysia and India depend on farming as a significant contributor to its economy. However Methane is produced by farming as a by-product of decomposition of these crops. Contrast this with the industrial giants of the world, America, Germany and Japan, who produce a vast amount of carbon dioxide (Co2) through their industrial wastes. So, who are the main culprits of global warming?It is hard statistically to prove the devil’s advocate. Data collected on gases cannot be 100% accurate, they are at best suggestions. It is clear that both. Both sides are pushing blame, neither wanting to accept responsibilities at the cost of the detriment to their economy.
Yes, detriment to the economy. Is that not the reason why America, the largest producer of carbon dioxide through the burning of fossil fuels, decided to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol in 1992, citing selfish reasons that would “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States”? While every country on their façade, paint an all too willing image to support green movements, if it were to be legistically imposed upon them by a NGO like United Nations, would they then still remain ‘upbeat’ about their kind intentions.
I am not advocating that countries should take America’s path of ‘leaning against the wind’. Of course nobody can, since they are the world’s unprecedented, not mega, but sole-megapower. Likewise with the Iraq War, America took on Iraq as well as the world. Even as recently in 2008, George Bush cited China’s exemption from the Protocol as an excuse the America can also be excluded from it. Never then nor now I guess.
What is it then, will it take for the World to truly abolish its self-obliterating past that was set in stone since Man learned to create fire. The answer is simple. At a global level, a reasearch instituion should be funded by all nations of the world to step into the Research and Development of environmentally-friendly technologies. Governments of the world should be impregnated with propanganda, very much like the way they do to their own citizens, with emphasis and collective responsibilities on the state of the health. Carl Sagan once said that we should be a “two-planet spieces”, yet the truth stares obliquely in our faces. We are a one planet spieces, and till the day we fulfill his prophecy, we must not be the destructors of Earth but its vanguard.
