Cutting greenhouse gas emissions in order to ward off a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be more of a challenge than previously thought.  Scientists have published studies in the last month, suggesting that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether by mid century.  This means that both industrial and developing nations, must use other fuel sources, instead of fossil fuels during this same suggested time frame. We must do this in order to prevent warming that could change weather precipitation patterns and greatly alter or dry up water sources globally.

There was a meeting on the issue in Paris, France last week, that involved the countries of China, India , France, Germany,and the United States, among others. The countries represented produce 80% of the world’s greenhouse gasses, and are among the worlds fastest growing economies.

President Bush stated in his speech, that the United States would cut it’s CO2 emissions and other heat-trapping gases by the year 2025.  Most of the world arena considered his speech to be a huge disappointment. Many nations consider President Bush, as an obstacle to the fight against global warming. Over the past year, he has shown more awareness of the dangers of planetary warming and human -caused carbon emissions. Although, it was the first time he has set a specific target date. The problem is we need to address these problems well before the year 2025. Several attendees felt the speech “takes a huge step backward.”  Other critics feel the United States needs to “cut emissions- not just limit their growth.”  If we set the example and cut our emissions, perhaps other developing nations would follow our lead, because some countries still look at us as having the world’s largest economy.

During this conference, there was also a push for ways to expand the use of bio fuels beyond the use of corn and other food crops. The growing use of bio fuels has been blamed for rising food prices and grain shortages, which have caused riots in some countries.

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, much has changed. Now we find our Earth in crisis. There are answers, even if it does seem like too little to late. We need to stop our dependence on fossil fuels, and have a government more willing to look at the other options that have been on the shelf for far too long.