It is possible to reduce greenhouse gas if we are willing to do the things that will help reduce emissions. Things like using a different kind of energy, solar for instance. It isn't a matter of "us" against "them" as much as it is a matter of having gotten ourselves as a species into a corner. We have an infrastructure that is based on a lot of pollution. We can't simply change everything in one day. But if the government would step in and change certain standards instead of listening to financial lobbyists quite as much, then things would change, albeit gradually.
To reduce greenhouse gas, we must reduce emissions from the vast numbers of automobiles that we have on the road today, not to mention trucks, factories and all forms of machinery. Automobiles, of course, are the most prevalent. Why, then, aren't we powering them with a cleaner kind of energy, solar for instance? The reason is big business.
It may seem like a monumental task that we'll never be able to attain, but the effort to reduce greenhouse gas will make a difference. Even if we can't reverse the damage that has been done, we can work hard to reduce emissions now and stop the damage in its tracks. For every person who realized the importance of alternative energy sources and chooses to reduce the size of their gaseous footprint, we've taken one step closer to eliminating the greenhouse effect. It may be slow, but progress will be made. It's up to each one of us to make changes ourselves, and to educate those around us to the danger.
Using different kinds of energy, solar for instance, to power our vehicles and our houses will go a long way toward cleaning up the environment. But if we are to reduce emissions significantly, we really need to reduce the number of cars on the road. That's difficult to do, since our cities have developed in such a way so that a person can't live an independent life unless he has his own car. You can't even have one or two cars per family anymore-if there are six people living in a house, chances are, there are six automobiles there. Many people can't even get to work without a car. We can't reduce greenhouse gas significantly until we get to the root of the problem.
If we really want to reduce greenhouse gas, then we must support legislation and funding for research on alternative forms of energy. Unless the automotive industry is confident that they can survive, they will not turn away from the use of fossil fuels. It will be very hard to reduce emissions as long as there are gasoline burning cars on the road. While we may sit passively by and think that someone else will solve the problem, unless we are all willing to let our voices be heard and to show our concern for the environment, the auto makers will just keep cashing our checks and making more cars.
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