The world is at our hands, and therefore, it is our responsibility. Our carbon footprint is getting bigger every day, every minute, every second, and as this monster increases little by little, we have to find a way to stop ourselves. Looking for ways to change lifestyles and the ways companies work in order to reduce excessive carbon emissions is something that should always be on our minds. It can start simply at home by being environmentally aware, but at the rate that humanity is going, we need some big-scale changes to really make a difference. Cap & Trade is a proposal that is pending to see if it will be put to use in the United States, and it is a delicate thing because what is at stake here is our world. We can’t just jump to conclusions that one solution will help the world and leave the risks in doubt when it is put into effect. Even though Cap & Trade is a good solution, we have to consider its factors and what it means in order to take a step backwards in our carbon footprint. If it were up to me, I would look for a way to really cut off most companies that are destroying our environment, but who are we kidding? Almost all countries around the world need these companies to keep their economies going, so they aren’t about to put their country’s state of being at risk only to improve the environment. However, understanding the magnitude of the problem and that one day our natural resources will be drowned out and that the environment will not be suitable for living will probably have them asking themselves: “Ok, so what things can we do here in order to avoid the end of the world?” In that case, solutions like Cap & Trade could be suitable for a good start to helping our world come back to life.

First of all, I need to make myself clear if it hasn’t been before that there is an obvious crisis due to our carbon footprint. Unlike Kristie Pelletier, an environmental activist, I believe that there is absolutely a carbon footprint that humans have been building up that has affected the way our world works. Needless to say, we have to find a solution soon because it could get out of hand. Kristie Pelletier states that carbon dioxide is part of our world, and that it is impossible to think that humans letting it out to the world could be a bad thing. Wrong. In excessive amount, anything could be bad even though in a moderate trend it could be a good thing. For example, water is great for the human body because it is healthy and has absolutely no harmful substances. However, water in excess can cause water intoxication, where pressure builds up in cells and it could be fatal. In this case, carbon dioxide, yes Kristie Pelletier, it is part of the world and a basis of life, but in excess it is no good. Global warming has been a factor in our carbon emissions extravaganza, and that climate change could soon become a climate disaster. We need to cut down, and cut down BIG on our emissions, and one way could be by Cap & Trade.
The system of Cap & Trade consists of each country limiting how much companies emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by giving permits to companies to release only a specific amount of CO2. It’s a business, so companies don’t really have to worry about money issues that would deal with closing down their companies due to environmental damage. Also, the system of cap & trade would motivate companies to reduce their carbon emissions even more than what the nation would be limiting them to, because if you have more permits saved up from not releasing that much CO2, you can then sell those permits to other companies who do need them. Even though there are risks that companies will not be 100% honest with the amount of CO2 that they say they released into the atmosphere, this system is reliable and a good way to cut carbon emissions. At this point, we have to keep in mind that no plan will be guaranteed to work perfectly, so we have to hope for the best, and maybe even make more regulations in order to avoid companies lying about how much CO2 they are releasing. Cap & Trade could be a first step towards reaching our goal of saving the earth, and we have to start trusting each other and work to make a system successful instead of giving up.