COP21
On December 12, 2015, the 196 Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agreed on the Paris Agreement. The Paris agreement unites countries around the world to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees. The agreement will be signed on April 22nd in New York at the UN headquarters. This agreement involves all countries, developed or developing, and covers all emissions. Each nation involved will submit their own official plan to make this agreement work.
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Infrastructure Upgrades Infrastructure improvement around the world would decrease the amount of emissions drastically. Buildings worldwide account for 1 third of the total greenhouse gas emissions, 43% in the US alone. This is mostly due to the large amount of poorly built housing that is inefficient and takes more energy to maintain than they should. Problems like these continue to increase worldwide due to population increases. Of course, it takes a lot of cement, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, to construct new buildings and roads. The U.S. alone contributed 50.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in 2005 from cement production, which requires heating limestone and other ingredients to high temperatures.. Mining copper and other elements needed for electrical wiring and transmission also causes globe-warming pollution. Investing in more efficient cement making processes, better building designs, and more efficient buildings would decrease. emissions in developed and developing countries.
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Consuming Less
The easiest and most universal way to decrease emissions is to consume and waste less. Consuming less means fossil fuels don't have to burned making, shipping, or storing the products. Wasting less means almost the same thing as consuming less, fewer products have to be made and shipped. Wasting less also means that we don't have to burn as much garbage and release harmful gases into the air. That garbage also doesn't sit in a landfill for hundreds of years and pollute the planet.. Fossil fuels are burned transporting the garbage. Consuming less and wasting less is the easiest way to reduce emissions.
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