Climate change mitigation strategies, Essays (university) of Environmental Science

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Running head: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION STRATEGIES Climate Change Mitigation Strategies Subject: Environment Institution Name: Columbia University

Climate change mitigation strategies in Newark, New Jersey The releasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is the principal cause of global warming. Beside the industries, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has reported that about 1.4 billion individuals worldwide use fossil fuel as a primary source of energy to sustain their needs in energy. It is quite impossible to just phase out the consumption of fossil fuel all of the sudden this is why diverse strategies have been elaborated to reduce the production of greenhouse gases and gradually progress toward using green energy only in the future. Mitigate the effects of global warming implies reducing the use of fossil fuel by using more sustainable energy source. It also means reducing the level of waste, the urban heat effect and air pollution. Some local governments encourage energy efficiency by requiring that the energy- using products they purchase meet energy efficiency criteria. One way of achieving this goal is by combining heat and power or cogeneration. With this methods, electricity and thermal energy are generated from the same source and can greatly contribute in lowering the emission of pollutants. The generation of renewable energy in the local communities can be combined with energy efficiency in the optic of limiting the dependency on fossil fuel in the locality. This type of energy termed green energy can be produced from biomass, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, or solar such as wind and solar energy is very effective in reducing the energy loads and do not release greenhouse gases. The State of New Jersey highly encourages the use of public transportation, carpooling, bicycling and walking. This measure can reduce significantly the emission of GHG given that transportation is the activity that contribute the

problem the local authorities had launched tree planting movement in recent past. The municipal authorities plan to plant over a hundred thousand trees inside and outside Newark in few years’ time. The use of clean alternative source of energies like wind energy, solar energy and geo-thermal energies is a major part of global risk mitigation strategy. These are energies which can always be harnessed as their sources are unlimited (Ford and Furgal, 2009). The state government of New Jersey has made several efforts to include use of only clean energies in its project. The local state authority has reduced the taxes on solar panels bringing down its rates. The local state government has also shut down several old power plants replacing them by solar farms. Solar farms are big fields having solar panels to generate electricity using sunlight. Today many homes in Newark or in complete New Jersey completely depend on solar panels. This has been successful due to efforts of state authorities to encourage clean energy The conservation of forests is another method through which global warming can be defeated (Millar and Stephenson, 2007) It is often said that the forests are air lungs of our planet earth and widespread damage to them had to cause problem when the respiratory system of earth is itself effected (Heller and Zavaleta, 2009). The government of New Jersey has made policy regulation with regards to cutting old trees. The local government officer needs to be informed if the tree being cut is over 50 years. There are several areas which have been marked as forest area where cutting trees is totally banned. The local NGOs operating in Newark and other parts of the state have rightly demanded ban on cutting trees.

The local bodies based in Newark and in larger area of New Jersey are taking steps to fight climate change by curbing down on pollution. The need is to work further on each of measures discussed and continue to contribute in much bigger way to mother earth.