Carbon Dioxide

atmosphere

78% Nitrogen, 20% O2, .93%a Argon, .93% Greenhouse gases, .04% CO2, hydrogen/helium/ozone

Greenhouse effect

characteristic of the Earth's atmosphere based on the presence of important gases including water vapor and carbon dioxide to trap and retain heat, leading to temperatures that can sustain life

collective action

cooperation and coordination between individuals/states/etc. to achieve common goals and outcomes

command-and-control approach

forms of regulation that depend on governmental laws and agencies to enforce rules, including things such as regulated limits on pollution or fuel efficiency standards, or bans (with plastic bags)

Uneven development

geographic tendency within capitalism to produce highly disparate economic conditions (wealth/poverty) and economic activity (production/consumption) in different places not just induced by money but also by an unequal concentration of power

surplus value

in political economic thought, the value produced by underpaying labor or over-extracting from the environment, which is accumulated by owners and investors

market-based approach

market response model, scarcity (of trees), higher costs (production of paper bags), alternatives (1950s plastic bags), replacement (1980s)

cap and trade

market-based system to manage environmental pollutants where a total limit is placed on all emissions in a jurisdiction (state, country, worldwide, etc.) and individual people or firms possess transferable shares of total, theoretically leading to the most efficient overall system to maintain and reduce pollution levels overall commodifying pollution; countries that don't use all of their pollution limit can sell it to other countries; putting a price on externalities

carbon sink

natural (photosynthesis) or artificial (landfills) capture and storage of carbon from the atmosphere, goes into the geosphere, captured by biological or physical means more carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored in plants than is emitted (human activity upset the balance)

carbon emissions

primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities, mainly through the combustion of fossil fuels for energy and transportation both human activities and natural emissions like decomposition, ocean relate, volcanic eruptions and respiration

incentive-based approach

problem (depletion of natural resources), alternatives, innovation (point of weakness), cost (gradual change), competition (new methods among industries)

Photosynthesis

process through which plants use the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars that are used to build tissues used by plants to produce energy, makes plants volatile carbon sinks

Montreal Protocol

responding to CFC problem (damaging ozone in stratosphere) drastic reductions/eliminations in industrialized countries developing nations phase it out later DUPONT involved in conference HFCs become substitutes for CFCs (big problem)

capital accumulation

tendency in capitalism for profits, capital goods, savings, and value to flow toward, pool in, and/or accrue in specific places used to create more wealth or appreciation value leads to centralization and concentration of both money and power causes uneven development and disparity in wealth/poverty

carbon sequestration

the capture and storage of carbon from the atmosphere into the biosphere or geosphere through either biological means, as in plant photosynthesis, or engineered means

carbon cycle

the system through which carbon circulates through the Earth's geosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere, specifically including exchanges between carbon in the earth and the atmosphere through combustion and back again through sequestration circulation of the element through the geosphere to the hydrosphere and then back again through combustion, respiration, photosynthesis, etc.

coase theorem

thesis based on neoclassical economics holding that externalities can be most efficiently controlled through contracts and bargaining between parties, assuming the transaction costs of reaching a bargain are not excessive Montreal Protocol, 1987

CO2's importance

vital to life, animals/fungi/bacteria emit, plants use to produce energy in photosynthesis, also emitted by decay/fire

natural greenhouse gases

water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone

human contribution to greenhouse gases

world average temperature is currently 15 degrees celsius but is increasing by 2 degrees celsius. changes in weather patters/seasons. loss of permafrost, biodiversity, land, infrastructure