What can you do to fix the greenhouse effect?

Answer 1

The greenhouse effect is not broken. It allows life to exist on this planet. Without the greenhouse effect it is unlikely we would be alive.

What you may be asking about is if man can do anything about the concept of the enhanced greenhouse effect that some believe is caused by man.

This issue is far more complex. Remember that man produces almost none of the annually produced greenhouse gases. Water vapor makes up almost all of our greenhouse gas in every conceivable way. It even accounts for up to 80% of all the energy trapped by gas.

The primary greenhouse gas that man produces is CO2. We produce around 3% of this gas. Over half is to power our homes and companies. If we are to believe the alarmists about when man started to contribute we are looking at a start date of about 1850 or earlier. Man produced no electric power to speak of, we had no cars and only minimal use of any fuels outside of natural fuels like wood.

To follow this logic would require the planet to reduce to levels lower then we had in 1850. This would require mass extinction of a large portion of our planet. High efficiency lamps and other such "feel goo" devices simply will not do the job for us. Additionally, no plan is in place to allow any meaningful reductions to occur. The only real attempt is the Kyoto Protocol which asks for a handful of countries to try to reduce and none to actually reduce.

A:Sometimes apparently insurmountable problems lead to despair, with people concluding that solutions are beyond us, so why even try. Although the Kyoto Protocol has led to only limited achievements, largely as a result of a lack of political will, there is much you can do as an individual to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, simply by helping reduce our use of coal and oil.

In the United States alone, there are over three hundred million people, so it only requires each person to use a little less electricity: by replacing incandescent light globes by high efficiency one, by turning off appliances when not in use, by using air-conditioning less, by installing insulation in their homes, by driving fuel-efficient cars and using public transport more, to achieve a real reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Yes, in the end, only the governments can achieve the big savings that will begin to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but by seeing the resolve of our citizens to contribute to this solution, governments will be compelled to act more decisively.