Christian Memmo
Economics 4B
Mr. Jim Reuter
12 October 2014
To Heart, or Not to Heat?
Consider this: the average American Joe drives eighty-seven minutes a day (Langer), and that’s just the average. The above-average Joe drives his daughter to school, forgets his briefcase at home, drives home, then makes a thirty minute commute to work. Then, he drives with some buddies from work out to lunch ten minutes away, then back to work, then back to pick his daughter up from school, then back to his home. This probably seems like a recurring routine to many Americans in the higher middle class; more income equals more expenditure. More expenditure equals a need for gas. A need for gas equals the emission of CO2. Now, for the sake of postulates, the average American car emits 9,737.44 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.
Believe it or not, this is shockingly true. Twenty-five million cars currently drive in the US annually. Calculating the total number of pounds that equates to in CO2 emissions, we get...243,436,000,000 (two hundred, forty-three billion, four hundred, thirty-six million) pounds of CO2 every year. That’s 121,718,000 tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. To put this in perspective, the Empire State Building weighs 365,000 tons. That means that each year, American alone emits three hundred and thirty-three point four seven (333.47) Empire State Buildings into the atmosphere. This isn’t even counting the other 975,000,000 cars that exist in the world, and their average fuel emission per year.
This is not okay.
Take a look at this lower-than-ideal quality video from Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos, visualizing the frequency at which we emit this unseen danger:
It certainly looks uglier than we see it, doesn’t it? It gets even worse. Here’s a graph of the temperature anomalies in Earth’s oceans since 1880. The Model-T was invented in 1908, around the time the annual temperature anomaly began to increase some, then more and more. Around World War Two, when America’s vehicular production industry skyrocketed, so did the oceans’ temperature. Now, we’re at an all time high, with about a 1.0 anomaly increase since cars were first invented. Perhaps this graph would have gone a different way if cars were never a thing?
(Graph and data courtesy of GISS at NASA)
Another interesting tidbit: since 1998, the planet’s climate has accumulated 2,145,100,050 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs’ worth of heat...and that number is steadily increasing by 4 more atomic bombs per second(GPWayne). Okay, so there’s quite a bit of data and fluff here, but what does it have to do with anything economic? Surely exhaust doesn’t change the day-to-day operations of our economy?
(Graph courtesy of Juliana Rotich)
Wrong! The unstoppable force can indeed move the immovable object. The Earth’s climate can and does have a pretty large effect on the costs our governments put into managing human life from even the mildest to the extremest of climates found all over earth. If CO2 emissions continue to increase by the day, soon enough, many regions of Earth will become uninhabitable; too dry for fertile land, terrible for clean water, and plain uncomfortable. The only logical solution would be to decrease the country’s (and hopefully the world’s) annual CO2 emissions, and to do so, the government would have to subsidize a heck of a lot of organizations to attain the resources needed to move mass populations and simultaneously manage them. There is an apparent correlation between countries’ GDPs and CO2 emissions: both rise at a proportional rate. So proportional, in fact, an accurate equation has been written (CO2=0.3819(GDP)+10.604) to predict future GDPs relative to average CO2 emissions (Breakthrough). So, countries will have to inevitably prioritize and understand their opportunity costs of both decisions, and decide: “Do we want a lower GDP or lower CO2 emissions?”
Think about this: the marginal benefit for buying another gallon of fuel for your car gets you further, quicker, but in doing so, you emit more CO2 into the air, giving you your marginal cost. One is blatantly worse for the purity of the air. We are presented with a situation where the private goods of car ownership actually harm public goods, being public space (one would think such an elastic or unnecessary product wouldn’t be so popular...)
Leaving such disgusting toxins in the air, gasoline conglomerates - like BP - face moral crossroads on aspects other than simply Supply & Demand. Albeit there is a definite scarcity in oil left on the planet, these companies have to consider raising the price to discourage the average consumer from buying another gallon. Yes, not even transportation is in the situation to consider itself Laissez Faire, there must be some regulation.
And yet...there isn’t...at least not one that makes a considerable difference.
Consider these facts the next time you’re driving to school, or to a friend’s, or to a job, or a concert, a meeting, a football game, an errand. Americans drive a lot more than we once thought, and we’ll inevitably pay for it in a fashion that won’t please or benefit our species in the very near future.
Works Cited
"Average Annual Emissions and Fuel Consumption for Gasoline-Fueled Passenger Cars and Light Trucks."Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/420f08024.pdf>.
"Climate Science Glossary." Skeptical Science. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.skepticalscience.com/co2-limits-economy-basic.htm>.
"Carbon Dioxide and the Global Economy."The Breakthrough Institute -. Web. 7 Oct. 2014.
<http://thebreakthrough.org/archive/carbon_dioxide_and_the_global>.
"Using Web2.0 Tools for Environmental Activism · Global Voices." Global Voices Overall RSS 20. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.
<http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/01/28/using-web20-tools-for-environmental-activism/>.
"National Aeronautics and Space Administration." Data.GISS: GISS Surface Temperature Analysis: Analysis Graphs and Plots. Web. 11 Oct. 2014.
<http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs_v3/>.
Very good argument. With the staggering facts that you provided about the amount of C02 and temperature anomalies, you really show how bad the problem is. I would definitely agree that countries all around the world have to cut down on carbon emissions or very bad climate conditions will arise.
ReplyDeleteChristian, we have all heard the age old debate about reducing carbon emissions, and how we need to take better care of the environment, but this takes an interesting spin on the economics of it. Do you think the cost of having to modify all of our cars and existing factories is worth reducing cabon emissions? Are there any nations out there that will be willing to make this change? I agree that something needs to be done, but clearly most nations and people, aren't willing to sacrifice their money for the environment. It is a sad reality, but we need to create some sort of system to reduce carbon emissions without hurting our wallets, and, we have to beat the clock that is ticking all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt’s clear the CO2 and by definition gasoline vehicles aren’t doing the Earth any favors. However, It doesn’t matter what the government does in the long run. Nobody can persuade the majority of Americans to walk, or bike to work every day. You mentioned an average of 87 minute drives a day. Think of how much time and energy that would take without a vehicle. Like you said, GDP would go down, and what sane country would lower it’s own GDP unless the entire world is doing the same.
ReplyDeleteChristian, the statistics you use are shocking to the reader and captured my interested for sure. I read an article once about the effect of airplanes in the environment as well and they used 9/11, when pretty much all airplanes were grounded, to see the difference the jet planes made on the atmosphere--the atmosphere changed by 1 degree Celsius. I think that looking at the environment from an economic perspective makes the best argument if we want leaders to step up and regulate what we are doing to the environment.
ReplyDeleteChristian, it is interesting how you connected carbon dioxide emissions to their effects on the economy--something that not many of us would think about. I was specifically captured by the video, which really opened my eyes to how realistic and evident CO2 emissions actually are. I can relate to the long commutes however because I used to do gymnastics in Germantown everyday after school. It is 30 minutes there and 30 minutes back, and before I was driving, my mom would have to drop me off and come pick me up, equating to about 2 hours on the road. Additionally, my dad works in Madison, so he commutes anywhere from 90-120 minutes round-trip each day, depending on the traffic. I definitely do not agree with the pollution emit into the atmosphere, however, in today’s quick-paced society, it is practically unavoidable, for it would be nearly impossible to get to the places we need to be by means other than driving.
ReplyDeleteThere are pros and cons to regulating companies that emit high levels of CO2. A few years ago, an action called Cap and Trade was put into the spotlight. This bill would put a Cap on companies that emitted CO2 over the level that the government set. If the company went over the limit, they would then have to pay a fine. Actions like this are good for the environment but in turn hurt business. The government has also made many other decisions based on Mother Earth. For example, they did not approve the Keystone Pipeline and invested billions in alternative energy such as wind energy in the 2009 stimulus package. These actions also help the environment but also can cause gas prices to go up and the debt to grow larger.
ReplyDeleteChristian, your facts shown and especially your video are very shocking. You talk about having gas companies increase the price of their fuel but the reality is is that there are people who drive hours round trip to work or school. This could easily jeopardize a person's career or education. You also talk about BP being at a "moral crossroads" but BP has proven in the past that they are not the most moral with the huge oil spill in 2010.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your post, Christian! I always knew that driving cars around released a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere, but I never had imagined that there was so much of it being released. It’s really surprising how much of a temperature change that all of that CO2 causes. It’s also surprising that driving cars around release toxins into the air, which is already tainted from other things like smog, etc. My guess is that all the CO2 being released is only going to increase in the future if we don’t do something about it, otherwise it’s going to cause a whole boatload of problems.
ReplyDeleteChristian, you raise some really good points about the consequences we have to suffer in order to be rich. Did you know that the days following 9/11 (when there was no airplane activity), the Earth’s atmosphere dropped about 1 degree? That’s monumental and just goes to show the effects that emissions have on our atmosphere. But... It’s hard to be “green” without considering all the externalities of it like harder transportation and economic downturns....our economy thrives off of our GDP, and to maintain this GDP, we must export stuff. To survive we must import stuff. It will be interesting to see just how far this goes in the near future.
ReplyDeleteChristian, this is a very relevant post, as driving, something we think of as so natural, harms the Earth more and more by the minute, or by the mile. Fortunately, there are many car companies that are coming out with and advertising hybrid or electric cars, those that don't harm the Earth as much. For example, Lexus and Toyota have hybrid cars that run on both electric and gas mode. However, I know of Nissan and Tesla that have cars that run solely on electric power, and need to be charged before driven. The opportunity cost of purchasing these expensive cars however is having to go through the trouble of charging the cars, and taking the risk of not having charging stations at every shop or location. Maybe far into the future, many will own these types of cars. Your post definitely made me think of how much harm we cause to the environment just by driving, really great job!
ReplyDeleteChristian:
ReplyDeleteThe facts and statistics you provided brought forth an argument that I'm sure many people choose to ignore in today's society. Obviously, we all know that pollution exists and that it is a serious issue in this day and age. However, many people, myself included, know very little about the capacity at which it is occurring, and what it is actually doing to our Earth. Your use of graphs and statistics really helped clear this up for me.
I agree with every word. The fact that you brought up such a pressing issue and presented evidence and comparisons instead of just big numbers worked well to pull economics and ecology together. It is not surprising how often Americans drive because if you look at a highway at any time of day it will have at least one lone car driving on it. The fact that we emit the most CO2 isn't surprising either based on how we are a consumerism based economy and we drive every day to get new products to consume and more vacation trips to take and more gas to buy and... It is a good topic to discuss and a good way to bring attention to it.
ReplyDeleteThe line mentioning how our own private goods damage public goods kind of knocked my socks off. I found this blog post very impressive and constructed a well rounded argument. Your usage of statistics really provided and made outlandish numbers seem concrete despite the fact that they were still. This topic has been brought up in infinite ways at infinite times and a lot of people are getting sick of it, however the way you presented it reminded me that there is more negative externalities than we think as we are so consumed in ourselves.
ReplyDeleteDear Christian, I have always heard people talking about the negative impact of CO2 emissions but I have honestly never understood the real impact it has. Your post was extremely informational. I had not idea that we released so much CO2. I agree, we need to cut back on our CO2 output but how? Everything is extremely far apart, because we have been relying on cars for so long now. Many rural and suburban areas don’t even have public transportation. Maybe the answer lies in more fuel efficient cars, but I don’t know. One thing I am curious about is how CO2 affects the climate. I’ve always heard it heats the Earth but if anything Wisconsin has experienced a decrease in our winter temperatures so I wonder if that is really true. Perhaps CO2 emissions shift the climate in another way?
ReplyDeleteWow, could this really be such a huge a problem? I know that the media sources have been warning people about the impact of our increasingly large carbon footprint on the environment for years now, but I have never been presented with what seems to be such concrete data. However, this is quite a bit of a controversial issue and I wonder if you went into your research with a different motive, say to disprove the existence of global warming, would you come to a different conclusion? I was wondering how you made your connection between GDP and carbon emission in such a way that you concluded that to decrease carbon emission would be the equivalent of going into a recession. Personally, I think with all the “green” movements occurring of late, the technology to decrease our carbon foot will actually end up assisting economic growth rather than hindering it.
ReplyDeleteChristian I think that this is such a strong and persuasive post, it definitely made me reflect on my actions and how I can prevent the emission of CO2. Your argument is valid, and I have to admit I never really formed a relationship between CO2 emission and economics. However, it’s clear that part of the government's spending goes to the organization that protect, that look after the safety of our planet. I think that in order to be responsible inhabitants, we have to fix the actions that cause harm to our planet, since not doing so could harm the planet and impede people to continue their work and gain money. For example, farmers would be affected negatively if the soil suddenly became dry and was not able to produce goods. The negative effects extend to other workers as well, so I appreciate your effort of enlightening us with this information, so we can make a change.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very good point! If cars were never invented, then our economy, our world, would be a lot different. Who know's, it could be better or worse even. The pollution our cars give out every time we drive them is magnificent. Now that you bring up those enormous numbers, it makes me want to drive less and rather car pool or something other than driving. If we could figure out a way to use that pollution, then our world would be a lot better and in good hands. Until the day comes where we all have electric cars, we need to find a way to use that pollution to help better our economy. Create new jobs, build new energy sources. Help this world to become a better place for everyone.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird to think that that much CO2 is emitted into the air each year. Although, when analyzing the graph, I noticed that Eastern Europe has drastically dropped the amount of annual carbon emissions quite a bit! I believe the best solution for minimizing this problem would be to make more fuel efficient cars. Though, if you think about it, trees and other plants use CO2 and turn it into oxygen for us to breath, so you wouldn't necessarily want to eliminate this completely. To me, this doesn't seem like its a huge problem in our economy. Overall, good arguable article.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if we limited the amount of cars produced and the use of cars, our economy would struggle because of how reliant we are on them. Jobs would be lost at factories, less revenue would be made by car companies, which means less tax money made for the government, and a lot more aspects would go into this as well.
DeleteAside from becoming a meteorologist a little side job I wanna do is become an environmentalist. Now reading this whole post, I wasn't surprised by the amounts of CO2 emissions being emitted every year. But then again, it should be considered/remembered that efforts/measures have been taken to reduce these emissions. Apart from governments passing regulations, technology is advancing as well and hopefully pretty soon, bio-fuels will become the next big fuel on the market. In the end though, our lovely fossil-fuel burning cars are the main reason for any economy to continue on strong and live to see another day. And so, it's alarming the price that the environment is currently paying, but then again we're continually making economic progress on the side.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very well written article and until now I had never thought much about the effects of CO2 emission before. The statistics and graphs you provided really proved how big of a problem pollution is in society. However, while we know that CO2 emission is a problem, it is not a simple thing to fix. In today world cars have become a major form of transportation. So, possibly the solution is not to cut out the driving, but to invent more fuel efficient cars that cause less pollution. Overall this was an interesting article so well done.
ReplyDeleteIt's honestly really scary to think about how much CO2 is being emitted into the air every year. We constantly hear about global warming, and the green house effect but honestly if we don't start to change, all of their preidictions will come true. When we live our day to day lives we don't see that much change happening but when we look at it like "since 1998, the planet’s climate has accumulated 2,145,100,050 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs’ worth of heat" we see how much harm we're really doing. It's scary to think how different the world would be without cars, but maybe some drastic changes like reducing automobiles need to be made.
ReplyDeleteChristian, interesting post. Although I don't drive nearly as much as your "Average American Joe", I do a considerable amount of driving which puts out a considerable amount of CO2. I hadn't realized what my driving does to the environment when I only think of it as a quick way to get from place to place, and even more is that it also affects public goods negatively when my car is only a private good. The interaction of public and private goods should be taken into account when car companies are researching the ways to improve the effect their cars have on the environment.
ReplyDeleteChristian- I agree that the increase in pollution is harmful and “not ok”. This can just be added to the list of things that are not marginal benefits that outway the cost. Seeing a need for change is all a matter of perspective. Not many consider that the air is in fact a public good that shouldn't have to be monitored, but because of people’s inability to think ahead and be careful with their actions out of consideration of their consequences, the clean up process is much harder.
ReplyDeleteChristian you make a great point when saying we need to think about what we are putting into our atmosphere and how often we do this. We all hear things about global warming and harming our environment but rarely do much about it. Although this is such a huge issue here in America and around the world, if we stop using gas as much it could put a damper in our economy. Gas stations would go out of business, and people may not drive as much to go run many errands, which could even end up hurting stores like grocery stores or Walmart or fast food restaurants because people are quick running to the store because they are trying to conserve gas. It definitely is a sticky situation.
ReplyDeleteChristian, I like your first paragraph because many people can relate to it and it brings in a connection that everyone has at least done or gone through because using vehicles are so common now. Your data and graphs are also very good showing how emissions have gone up since 1908. I like your idea on presenting this overall, but to relate it to economy I think you should've mentioned a little on the amount of oil we spend because of this or maybe the effects of green house emissions. You did mention temperature change but economically wise, maybe more on the price of gas maybe because of it. I do like your idea and you did have good point nonetheless!!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that our cars had such a massive impact on the environment, while it is clear that our cars emit toxins the huge amount is shocking. I like how you related this to economics, the fact that gas is such a popular product made me think about the millions of people that are consuming it as well as the massive demand for gas. It’s no wonder that people in other countries such as Germany have resulted in biking as opposed to cars, this is because the price of gas hugely adds up and it is better for the Earth. All of the facts about how the heat of our planet is increasing and the amount of CO2 being released makes me want to cut down on my driving and positively impact the environment, nice job!
ReplyDeleteIt is a common debate as we all know but even if they (as in someone who would be trying to solve the problem) came up with a method or new standard eco-friendly system on new cars, people would still be driving old cars around. Cars have become a necessity now more than a luxury or a novelty so changing something as common as the car could defiantly affect everyone.
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