California`s Drought - Attacking Global Warming

        In these past few years California has not been getting any water. The rainfall has been decreasing more than ever before and finally this year we have hit the point where we must quickly conserve water. Although there have been many people who gave solutions to rewire the pipes in our water system to get water elsewhere, this idea is only a temporary solution to solving a bigger issue. California`s serious drought issue stems from global warming affecting the weather. As of right now an important issue is to tackle global warming.

       In order to tackle global warming we need to understand that global warming plays a role in exacerbating California`s drought. Researchers from Utah State University found that greenhouse gases caused by humans which can cause global warming have made the bond between a huge ridge called a dipole and the El Nino Southern Oscillation precursor much more powerful, thus causing California`s horrible drought. This ridge or a dipole is measured by a Community Earth System Model on a computer and cannot be seen by the naked eye of humans. In addition the El Nino Southern Oscillation is the movement of different temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. This means that human beings are the ones who have created global warming, thus contributing to the horrible climate change and thus aggravating California`s drought.

      Additionally another research by the Environmental Protection Agency states that the different levels of greenhouse gases which causes global warming can cause differences towards radioactive forcing which is the changes of Earth`s cool or warm temperatures. In addition they also say that humans have been contributing to the increase of greenhouse gases and increasing the earth`s temperature. This along with the research conducted in Utah State University indicates that global warming is definitely the cause of our recent temperature changes in these past few years due to the increase of green house gases and because of these temperature changes this could be the reason of why we have a major drought issue in California.

This chart shows the increase of greenhouse gas every year.
 Source: Environmental Protection Agency: Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions

        The solution to this issue I believe is to reduce the amount of pollution we are putting into the air. Some examples are transportation. Instead of driving a car or taking the bus that constantly emits carbon dioxide we should ride our bikes. Doing so will lessen the amount of people driving cars and limit the pollution. Also we need to use less electricity. Electricity is a huge major factor in contributing to global warming.

          Additionally we must input policies that will make a change to our society. This option will definitely be the most challenging and difficult to achieve in our society. Some policies we can input are policies that force companies to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions at the lowest from their plants where they make our products. There is currently a policy that is already doing something similar. This policy is called the Cap and Trade. Cap sets a limit of the amount of carbon dioxide released each year for all industries. Companies have to have enough permits that meet the amount of carbon dioxide they release each year but it cannot exceed the limit of the cap. Trade is when companies pay less for polluting and are able to sell the leftover permits they have to other companies.

       However some people argue that this does not seem to be the most effective way. A 2009 article from "Stanford`s Environmental Law Journal" says that implementing a tax on all coal, natural gas, and oil both sent to and created at home in the United States can reduce greenhouse gases faster then cap and trade and is more easier to be put in place. Not only that but it will also allow the government to have funds to do research. This is definitely another policy that we can create and try to reduce greenhouse gases as this method has never been tried before and we should be open to new ideas instead of constantly always sticking to one policy.   

          Not to mention an article from “Frontiers In Ecology and the Environment” states that there was a new study that gave an idea to pump CO2 underneath petroleum reservoirs from industries which might stop CO2 from leaking into the atmosphere. Although more research needs to be done in order to see if this idea works this can be another policy that the government can create in order to lower greenhouse gases.

      Another policy needed to be implemented is to increase taxes for both the poor and the rich in equal levels so that we can have enough funding to implement these policies. Companies should increase worker`s wages so that they will not have to pay all of their money towards taxes. In a time where we are in a very industrialized society, large companies are able to support both the economy and the poor. This means that we do have the money but large corporations are just not willing to give out as much.

       Overall these solutions and policies are definitely easier said than done. However if we don`t change then we will continue to suffer this horrible drought for many years to come. As a community if we are willing to take a stand to help end earth`s moody climate changes and California`s drought then we need to make a difference in this world that will improve everyone`s lives. So where do you stand?