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Voter's Survival Kit: Climate Change


  • “Greenhouse gases” like carbon dioxide come from the kinds of fuel we use most – namely, oil and coal. Since people in the U.S. and around the world are burning more of these so-called fossil fuels, greenhouse emissions have also increased – they’re already 35 percent above what they were before the Industrial Revolution.

  • The Earth is getting warmer – global temperatures have risen a full degree Fahrenheit in the last century. And the warming trend is speeding up, with seven of the eight hottest years recorded occurring since 2001.

  • We can slow down this warming trend by cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions, but the impact probably can’t be stopped or reversed. In other words, it’s a question of how much temperatures rise, not whether they rise.






You know the old joke: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” That’s just fine if we’re talking about your typical rainy day, but with global climate change, not doing anything about it could mean big trouble. The Earth’s atmosphere is heating up because of an accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases (mainly carbon dioxide, CO2 and methane, CH4, if you want to pull out your periodic table from high school chemistry) are released when we burn fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas for transportation, heating and cooling, manufacturing and so on. Another major producer of greenhouse gases is the burning of rain forests in Latin America, Indonesia and elsewhere. Cows also produce methane when they eat and digest their food, but it might be wise to leave the details of that aside. We’ll confine ourselves to the human causes here.





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There are many different ways to think about this issue. Here are outlines of three alternative plans on the best way to address the problem of climate change.


Cut greenhouse emissions and change our energy use as quickly as possible to prevent the worst consequences of global warming
Adapt to the inevitable changes global warming will cause
Use the free market to lead the way in the search for solutions
We need decisive national and international action to do this. What’s most needed now is strong government action both here and abroad to dramatically cut the production of greenhouse gases, shift to new energy sources and prevent as much of the damage global warming would otherwise cause as possible.
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It’s too late to prevent global warming, so we should prepare our country and others worldwide to deal with the problems it will cause. Given how far global warming has already advanced, and given the cost and disruption involved in shifting away from fossil fuels, the wisest course is to figure out how the United States can adapt to the tough problems climate change will inevitably cause.
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Putting too much reliance on government will make the problems worse, not better. The best thing we can do to address the challenges of global warming is to make sure the private sector has the information, freedom and incentives that will best allow businesses to respond to it. We can’t let bureaucracy and politics get in the way of innovation. There’s money to be made in “going green,” and with the right help creative entrepreneurs will seize the opportunity.
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Here’s a sampling of what some influential people have said about the problem and some of the solutions that have been proposed.


"I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make."

-- Al Gore, environmentalist and former Vice President

“There is no way the United States can hope to persuade China and India to adopt more environmentally friendly growth strategies without first acknowledging its own responsibility—and then doing something about it. At the same time, a carbon tax might finally convince the rest of the world that the United States does not aim to invade countries to preserve cheap oil. "

-- Kenneth Rogoth, economist, in "Foreign Affairs"

"In addition to policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we also need strategies to adapt to those climate change impacts that are unavoidable. The private sector faces a range of risks and it is important that they begin now to assess their options and strategies for adapting."

--Eileen Claussen, Pew Center on Global Climate Change

“The college idealists who fill the ranks of the environmental movement seem willing to do absolutely anything to save the biosphere, except take science courses and learn something about it."

-- P.J. O'Rourke, political satirist