Climate change has been affecting our planet for decades and yet many politicians have had an unwillingness to introduce policy to save not only the environment but our planet as well. Climate change is characterized as an overall change in the environment which affects things like weather pattern, temperature, precipitation, and a change in weather conditions. According to the EPA the Earths average temperature has risen more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, and is expected to rise anywhere from 0.5 to 8.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years. This small increase in temperature over the years could mean potentially dangerous effects to the environment. And an increase in temperature is not the only effect of climate …show more content…
One such bill is H.R 2454 or the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The bill hoped to introduce a “cap and trade” system which meant the government would set a limit or cap on how much greenhouse gasses can be emitted. Companies would be required to hold allowances on how much greenhouse gasses they could emit. They then could trade or sell them to companies who needed the allowances to emit more. This meant that companies who had a lot of emissions would be required to pay, which would incentivize cutting emissions. The bill would also subsidize the creation of clean energy technology. The bill also required a 17 percent decrease in greenhouse gasses by 2020. The bill passed in the House but was not in the Senate. Several other bills were introduced over the years but all of them have subsequently failed. The Obama Administration has taken significant efforts to combat climate change, the most recent being the US signing the Paris Agreement. The White House said “Today, the United States and China deposited with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon their respective instruments to join the Paris Agreement, marking a significant contribution towards the early entry into force of the Paris Agreement. Today’s action by the United States and China to formally join is a significant step towards entry into force this year with countries representing around 40 percent of global emissions having now joined and more than 55 countries having already joined or publicly committed to work towards joining the agreement this year” (Somander 1). The agreement hopes to join as many countries together as possible to reduce greenhouse gasses. The Bush Administration took a very passive approach to climate change, setting only voluntary targets for greenhouse gasses. A recent court case brought into question the role