Chapter 20 (Climate Change in the 21st Century) Response Questions: CGW4U

Pages 335-6 #5-7; 9-10; 13-15; 19-20

19 February 2015

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5. The Kyoto Protocol was not very successful. Since it was only the worlds first step in the battle against climate change, it experienced a number of problems; mainly the fact that most developed countries didnt really care enough to join, or to make a difference. Also, in 2006, Harper and his newly formed Conservative government withdrew from Kyoto, as did Bush in 2001.

6. Energy intensity is basically the measure of the energy efficiency of a nation's economy. It can be calculated as units of energy per unit of GDP. It is important because the higher energy intensities indicate a higher price or cost of converting energy into GDP for that specific nation, which can significantly change how much a nation is taking part in climate change

7. When it comes to fighting climate change, APEC has something called "non-binding agreements," which means if you dont follow the rules, theres no enforcement, whereas the EU has strict laws that governs their economy. For example, if a country part of APEC decides to go against the rules and start using more coal energy, they will see no consequences. If a EU nation did that, they would get into trouble.

8. The Bali Conference was a success primarily because so many nations and so many delegates joined the fight against climate change. Bali was much more important than Kyoto as well because it involved all the worlds nations, not just some. At the time the Bali Conference was held, more information about what was happening to the climate was known. This conference was also a small failure because in the end, not everyone could agree on a common ground. The US and its followers wanted to go in one direction and the EU and its followers wanted to go in another.

9. St. Petersburg, Russia; Calcutta, India; Shanghai, China; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Louisiana, USA and Vancouver, Canada are all some major world cities that are at extreme risk of rising water levels. Large cities such as these are located near water sources. This is majorly due to access to the water, for incoming ships and an easy way to manage imports and exports.

10. Canada is overall a great nation when it comes to participating in world events. Its economy allows it to be part of the G8 world leaders. However, Canadas involvement in the Kyoto Protocol was extremely poor and it is unfortunate to learn this. Canada most likely did so poorly at meeting Kyoto standards and lowering greenhouse gas emissions because it was not taken seriously and put as a priority in parliament and was overlooked.

11. Hummer SUVs are commonly called gas guzzlers and the Hitler of the road. They are vandalized and owners are treated this way because they are such awful cars for the environment. They emit almost 10 times as many harmful fossil fuels as other vehicles and use an incredible amount of gas, which is not used efficiently and burned away fast in the car. This cannot however be justified because vandalism and treating others poorly no matter what is not acceptable.

12. The Green Party of Canada has their heads in the clouds some days. If the government ever put that high of a carbon tax on gasoline, the Canadian oil industry would suffer greatly, because less people would be spending their money on extreme amounts of gasoline for their cars, and probably start investing in electric vehicles. I would never support this because the idea is ridiculous. In Canada there are more important things to care about such as low income families and their healthcare, before we can go around taxing things that dont need to be taxed.

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