We were intrigued by Harvard resident Ted Morine’s letter entitled “Parks and Rec refusal to endorse climate policy is reasonable’’ in the Harvard Press. He said advocates for carbon emission reduction should just “exhale less” if we want to reduce carbon dioxide. We think we are in a climate emergency and we as a community should take concrete steps to reach net-zero carbon emissions.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report suggests that to limit global warming, humans must reach at least net-zero emissions. It also confirms “with high confidence the AR5 finding that there is a near-linear relationship between cumulative anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and … global warming.” So, contrary to what Ted Morine claims, there is much scientific evidence that proves the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide due to human actions.
Due to the damage we’ve already caused, we should be looking into reaching net-zero emissions and removing carbon dioxide. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide removal is any process that humans implement to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It could be something as simple as planting trees to new technologies that capture the carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere. These processes must be employed because it is not enough to reach net-zero, we must endeavor to reverse the real and noticeable damage we’ve already caused, and do it soon before we cause irreversible damage.
There should be more implementation of anthropogenic carbon dioxide removal techniques to directly remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Companies should focus more funds on implementing these techniques on a wider scale.
Abigail Chacko, Amy Wu, Isaac Noble, and Ashley Kim
Worcester
Editor’s note: Chacko, Wu, Noble, and Kim are students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute where they are studying climate change in their class, “Chemical Properties, Bonding, and Forces.”
