By: Semaj Williams
President Joe Biden looks to take on the climate crisis with his new pledge to cut the US greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
The Biden administration aims to cut down the greenhouse emissions before the climate change disaster that scientists warn is approaching. Scientists warn that this decade is important for emissions cuts, to keep the average global temperature from increasing to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius than the average global temperature of the mid-19th century.
According to the National Public Radio, temperatures are on track to rise 3 degrees Celsius globally.
“This potential rise could have major consequences in Statesboro, as the rising temperatures will cause excessive heat days, changed rainfall patterns, greater risk of drought, risks to wildlife and plant populations, and increased wildfire risk,” said Georgia Southern Professor Ray Chandler.
Greenhouse gases are emitted mostly by factories, cars, trucks, and power plants. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere which leads to global warming.
Georgia Southern professor Christine Hladik believes that though these are the steps in the right direction, cutting emissions will not immediately impact.
“This is decades upon decades of greenhouse gases building up in our atmosphere, even with the solution to cut emissions in half, we’re still sending gases into the atmosphere. So it will help, but there will not be a major impact until we completely stop emitting greenhouse gases,” said Hladik.
President Biden’s ultimate goal is to make the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050. However, the U.S. would have to do more than just cut greenhouse emissions in half to reach this goal. The U.S. would have to replace coal power with more environmentally friendly energy such as solar or wind power, also most cars would need to be electric instead of running on gas.
According to Georgia Public Broadcasting, economists see signs of the economy shifting towards cleaner and cheaper energy. The price of solar and wind energy is on the decline while the popularity of energy-efficient is increasing.
Georgia Public Broadcasting also states that although cutting emissions in half will be beneficial, scientists believe that it will not be able to protect everyone. Scientists have advised that will need to prepare themselves to adapt to a hotter Earth.
“It is pretty scary to think about honestly, I mean the Earth is already pretty hot, especially in the south during the summer. So, for a scientist to tell us that it may be even hotter for years to come is alarming, I just hope we can get it under control before it becomes too hot for us to even survive,” said Statesboro resident Martrell Burton.
The Biden Administration’s fight against global warming extends past just cutting the emissions of greenhouse gases, the administration has also proposed an infrastructure bill that includes spending money to help cities avoid potential damages and health impacts from heat waves and fires.
President Biden also announced on his first day in office that the U.S. would rejoin the Paris agreement. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. pledged $2 billion to the Green Climate Fund.
This fund is designed to help pay for climate control projects in poorer countries, many of which are already suffering the effects of the changing climate.
These projects include building sea walls and transitioning to drought-resistant crops.
New plans for climate change may be coming out within the next upcoming as there is a U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November. This conference will host the Paris agreement nations that will discuss their emissions targets for the next decade.
