INDUSTRY

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Closely linked to electricity, industry accounts for 22% of the overall greenhouse gases in the United States. It is even arguable whether electricity should be regarded as a part of industry and if you consider this, industry would account for 28% of the overall greenhouse gases and make up the largest contributor. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that the emissions decreased about 16% since 1990 as companies have set targets to reduce their emissions and become more sustainable. In contrast to the Trump administration that seems that cancelled the regulations limiting industrial sector emissions, more and more companies have committed to reducing their emissions. The technology company Google, for instance, is aiming at being completely carbon-free by 2030. Similarly, the Coca-Cola Company has planned to reduce their emissions in developed countries and has committed to the target of 25% emission reduction by 2030. Thus, committing to targets becomes obviously crucial when considering political decisions, making awareness and actions towards sustainability another significant factor for tackling climate change and the protecting the country’s biodiversity.

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COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL SECTOR

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The commercial and residential sector is particularly noteworthy to look at as it represents individual people and their ecological footprints. This sector includes emissions that arise from heating, cooling, lighting or waste in homes or offices. Overall, the sector accounted for 12% of the total US greenhouse gas emissions and is outstanding since it is the only sector where emissions have increased significantly by 11,1% since 1990. In fact, Goldstein et al. came to remarkable findings during their conduction of a study that examined greenhouse gas emissions from residential energy use in the United States. Therefore, they interviewed 93 million individual homes and found out that wealthier Americans’ footprints are about 25% higher than those of lower-income residents. They found out that income positively correlates with energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, meaning people with high incomes emit one quarter more emissions than those from lower social classes. Furthermore, they reached the conclusion that the average year of the building negatively correlates with energy intensity as energy-intense design preferences have expanded during the last decades. As a result, houses are becoming more energy-efficient, but the total energy use is not likely to decrease because of factors such as the increasing use of technology, electricity prices and the demographic trends of society.

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This depiction of contributors leads to the question of how these issues can be mitigated. In this regard, energy efficiency seems to be the central term to mention. Reducing the use of coal such as an overall decarbonization can mitigate their negative outcome significantly. As a consequence, the U.S. should prioritize alternative energy development over expanded coal or natural gas generation in order to reduce the negative effects of climate change.  In addition, building efficient homes and incorporating green building techniques help to save energy and brings up personal benefits such as tax breaks. What seems to be most striking, however, is the awareness for climate change. Environmentally conscious human activity contributes greatly to climate change, e.g. the conscientious and sustainable handling of waste by recycling goods, the use of fewer plastics or the purchase of low energy consumption products. In this context, trainings should continue to be given to individual people and companies in order to set up targets and reach emission reduction. This commitment seems to be particularly fundamental for the political dimension as joining climate agreements is likely to mitigate the accelerating global warming. Likewise, it prevents the lives of the future generations that will be confronted with the grave ecological threat, including severe weather such as intense storms, the damage to plants, the harm to animal wildlife or droughts. With the new President Joe Biden, there comes hope for substantial reforms and new sustainable regulations. He has already presented strategies to achieve clean electricity such as plans on rejoining the Paris climate agreement, reinstating emissions rules and investing $2 trillion to counteract global warming.

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IS THE PREJUDICE THAT AMERICANS ARE UNCONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING JUSTIFIED?

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Returning back to the leading question of this article, the profound analysis makes it justified to state that the US is responsible for the largest amount of carbon dioxide emissions between 1850 and 2011. Therefore, the prejudice can be considered true since the numbers and political situation in the US, i.e. Trump announcing the exit from the Paris agreement, account for the assumption that the country is rather unconcerned about their environment and highly dangerous contribution to global warming.

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It is, nonetheless, insufficient to consider these two aspects only. As a matter of fact, climate policies vary from state to state so that a general prejudice cannot necessarily represent the whole nation. Furthermore, it cannot be denied that there is an overall decrease of GHG emissions which needs to be taken into account as it results from people’s raising awareness for climate change and the companies’ commitments to reduce their emissions in the long-term. Finally, the new President Biden with his promising strategy plan depicts a milestone in the history of the United States, aiming at mitigating global warming and protecting the American people from the grave ecological threat.

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