Large Changes

The greatest difficulty with combating global warming is the approach that should be taken. Since many of humanity’s activities produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, there are many ways to face the global warming threat. In the end, there is no simple answer as to the measures that should be taken. Environment America informs that,

“U.S. power plants released 2.56 billion tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to the amount produced by 449 million of today’s cars – that's more than three times the number of passenger cars registered in the United States in 2007. Coal-fired power plants are responsible for a disproportionate amount of this pollution – though coal produced two-thirds of U.S. fossil fuel electricity, coal plants emitted over 80 percent of fossil fuel global warming pollution.  Coal plants emitted about one-third of the nation's total global warming pollution.” (par. 5)

As a clearly great contributor of carbon dioxide, such power plants should be replaced by alternate energy. Wind, solar and nuclear power are all alternative energy sources that can be used to help stop our dependency on harmful coal powered plants. The CATO Institute elaborates on the difficulties of incorporating alternative energy sources (wind power in this case), stating, “First, wind remains uneconomic despite heavy subsidies from ratepayers and taxpayers over the last two decades. Second, from an environmental viewpoint, wind farms are noisy, land intensive, unsightly, and hazardous to birds, including endangered species.” (par. 7) Therefore implementing wind power would require a more isolated location, with vast amounts of land space and a lack of bird population. The energy source used in a specific location in the United States would depend on factors such as the size, energy emission efficiency and purpose of the plant that could best be replaced with specific energy sources, as well as safety factors (specifically concerning nuclear energy, whose risks have been seen in the recent nuclear disaster in Japan) and available space to build these alternative energy sources.

"New Report: Power Plants Emit Three Times the Pollution of All the Nation’s Cars." Environment America. 24 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.

"Renewable Energy: Not Cheap, Not "Green"" The Cato Institute. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.