Retreating glaciers, stronger hurricanes, hotter summers, thinner polar bears: the ominous harbingers of global warming Today

the worlds coal, oil and natural gas industries dig up and pump out about seven billion tons of carbon a year, and society burns nearly all of it, releasing carbon dioxide Over the past 30 years, as the gross world product of goods and services grew at close to 3 percent a year on average, carbon emissions rose half as fast the ratio of emissions to dollars of gross world product, known as the carbon intensity of the global economy, fell about 1.5 percent a year as societies get richer, the services sectorgrows in importance relative to energy-intensive activities deeply ingrained in the patterns of technology evolution is the substitution of cleverness for energy Hundreds of power plants are not needed today because the world has invested in much more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners and motors than were available two decades ago Hundreds of oil and gas fields have been developed more slowly because aircraft engines consume less fuel and the windows in gas-heated homes leak less heat Todays notoriously inefficient energy system can be replaced if the world gives unprecedented attention to energy efficiency Oil accounted for 43 percent of global carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2002, while coal accounted for 37 percent; natural gas made up the remainder Sources of the low-carbon electricity could include wind, nuclear power, or coal with capture and storage If all the farmers in the world practiced no-till agriculture rather than conventional plowing, they would contribute a wedge

Carbon dioxide has become a very large issue, and is continuing to rise in levels, and will not stop without efforts in the future. These efforts are currently within reach for much of the issues, and the few that are not currently achievable are being worked towards. The measure of the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere in 50 years could either have continued to rise, or could be kept at our current rate, allowing it to even out. The current rate of emissions is at 7 billion tons a year, and will double in 50 years unless the method called the 7 wedge method is implemented, which would achieve the option of keeping our emissions the same in 50 years. This method counts one billion tons of carbon emissions prevented as a wedge, and preventing 7 billion tons of emissions would fill all 7 wedges. Many of our current practices have been analyzed to show what changes should be made o fulfill these wedges in 50 years. The best example of a wedge saved is through automobiles, where the average 10,000 miles driven per year at 30 miles per gallon per car would emit two billion tons of carbon in 50 years, but if the miles per gallon were advanced to 60 miles per gallon, then one billion tons of carbon would be emitted, prevent another billion, saving one wedge of the seven. Carbon emissions are one of the largest problems in todays society, and is starting to become prevalent to many of the organizations how important it is for this issue to be solved. With todays consumption and emission levels of carbon dioxide, the projected levels in 50 years are surprising to

many. In 50 years, carbon emissions are supposed to double from 7 billion tons a year 14 billion tons a year, and this could be solved with efforts from society and companies. Nearly every industry and process that emits carbon during either production or consumption of products can be altered to have lowered levels of carbon being released, and a few have already begun to take actions. I believe that the consumers today can take part in striving towards lower carbon emissions, and it would not require much. I believe that we could use less electricity, or could use more energy generating tools similar to solar panels and wind turbines. We could also use many other forms of transport that do not require fuels, such as bicycles or completely electric cars. So What? This article is important because it showed how easily the carbon issue could be resolved by just maintaining. What if? If this information was not looked into, then our carbon emissions would not have shown how they could truly be changed by simple maintaining. Says Who? This information was published by a professor on carbon mitigation. What Does This Remind Me of? This article reminded me of the article about the innovation within cities that were designed by the public that would be efficient to construct and use.