NationStates Jolt Archive

I would like to know what people think of the draft below. It has not yet been submitted as a proposal but I want it submitted before I go on holiday. This means I have to the end of Friday (GMT) before I want it submitted. Any points you could think of though would be much appreciated.

Over recent years conclusive scientific evidence has shown our world is being warmed up due to increases in the levels of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouses gasses being pumped into the atmosphere.
Evidence includes:

Ice cores showing Carbon Dioxide levels to be the highest for 500,000 years:

“Initial tests on gas trapped in the ice core show that current carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are higher than they have been in 440,000 years.”

“Epica is still busy analysing the ice core's atmospheric gases, but preliminary results suggest that present CO2 levels are remarkably high.
"We have never seen greenhouse gases anything like what we have seen today," said Dr Wolff.”

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3792209.stm

Rises in atmospheric CO2 levels that have been coupled with expansion in industry and human CO2 emission as well as climatic change:

“When examining global CO2 rates on a timeline, it becomes shockingly clear that human use of fossil fuel burning technology (cars, industry, heating/cooling systems) has had a major impact on the rise of CO2 levels in our environment. "Given the current and projected extent of urbanization, ecologists cannot afford to ignore the existence and impacts of Homo sapiens in urban and suburban landscapes"(McDonnell and Pickett, 1990). The concentration of CO2 in parts per million (ppm) has rapidly increased since 1960. From 4000 B.C. to 1700 A.D. CO2 concentrations fluctuated between 260-280ppm, in 1959 the level had risen to 316 ppm, now in 2001 the level has risen to 370ppm (Ricklefs 2001). This greenhouse gas that is naturally a part of the earth’s chemical balance has been skyrocketing in concentrations by more than 30% since the industrial revolution.”

From: From personalwebs.coloradocollege.edu

This rise in atmospheric CO2 cannot have been natural as this rapid rise comes hand in hand with rises in industry and there has been no increase on this scale in CO2 produced from natural sources. We know our world is melting as study’s have shown rapid melting of the ice sheets and increases in water flowing from rivers that are fed by melting snow. The only explanation can be the increase in CO2 caused by mankind.

The Khanate of the Mongol believes this situation can no longer continue and that the UN must publish new initiative to push Nation States into taking much needed actions to save our planet from the environmental disaster we face.

In order to help tack this problem we asks the UN Environmental Accord is accepted as a resolution and then hopefully passed by the general assembly. The measures in the UN Environmental accord are:

1.All UN member states classified as being developed by the UN shall reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2015, starting from CO2 levels of 2003.
Nations classified by the UN as developing will be required to make a 10% reduction from 2003 levels.
Those Nations classified as un-developed by the UN will be required to reduce their CO2 emissions from 2003 levels by 5%.

2.All UN member states shall increase the share of energy in their national grids that comes from renewable sources to 20% by 2020.

3.Measures such as chimney scrubbing (To remove sulphur dioxide) and catalytic converters on cars shall become compulsory for all UN member states in order to cut down on pollutants that can cause acid rain.

4.The Automobile manufacturing industry shall be required to provide 3% of their net profit into research for alternative sources of energy to power automobiles.

5. The Automobile manufacturing industry shall also be required to provide 1% of their net profit to promoting the use of lower carbon alternative fuels like bio-diesel and hydrogen.

6. An automobile tax shall be levied on all automobiles not using lower carbon alternative fuels. The tax will be 2% of an owner’s annual income and will go towards subsidising public transport in order to make it a cheaper alternative to driving and promoting lower carbon alternative fuels.

7. National governments in the UN will be expected to put 3% of their budget towards research and development of new environmentally friendly and renewable power sources .

8. A further 2% of national budgets will need to be put forwards subsidising solar panels and promoting them so that individuals may have them installed helping drive forwards the process of using more renewable energy.

9.A UN Environmental Watchdog will be set up to monitor the earth’s environment.

The Khanate of the Mongol recognises that this is far from a complete solution but it is a step in the right direction. The problem of global warming is a real and dangerous one and this must be tackled as soon as possible before it is too late. If we do not then we condemn our children and grandchildren to a damaged world.

Mongol, you've obviously put a lot of effort into this, and for that alone you deserve plaudits.

Given that, however, there are a number of significant issues with this. Chief among them is considerig the so-called 'real world' to be equivalent to the world of NationStates. It isn't. While your links to news sites and statistical sources are quite relevant in that other place, they can't be included in a proposal to the NS UN. Used as an example, perhaps, but not included in any submitted text.

Second, the percentages you quote for the various costs incurred amount to sledgehammer blows to any NS UN economy.4.The Automobile manufacturing industry ... 3% of their net profit ... alternative sources
5. The Automobile manufacturing industry ... 1% of their net profit ... lower carbon alternative fuels
6. An automobile tax ... will be 2% of an owner?s annual income
7. National governments ... 3% of their budget towards ... renewable power sources .
8. A further 2% of national budgets ... subsidising solar panels A total of 5% of a government's ENTIRE budget for just two research avenues? That may be more than they put into their entire transportation industry. Or education industry. Or R&D total. 2% of PERSONAL income as a subsidy of mass transit? That's completely punative and totally unrealistic. I spend considerably less than 2% of my income on transportation total, any you want me to ADD to my burden? Then there is the isolation of the Automotive industry as the only affected corporate group. What about coal-fired power plants? The oil industry? What about industry and air conditioning? It's a pretty finely honed burden for a single culpable industry. Add a "point zero" in front of those percentages, and they might start to look realistic. You've got them funded at 100 or even 1000 times reasonable values.Finally, article 9 is simply not allowed. Game mechanics don't permit the establishment of any enforcement agency apart from the Compliance Ministry ... and you can't add this to their workload. They do exactly what they're supposed to do and no more.

To sum up, kudos for the effort. I can see that you have some good ideas. My advice to you would be to tackle a smaller bite of this, perhaps a restriction of emmissions targeted at the auto industry. And please, reduce those percentages. One or two percent doesn't seem like a whole lot until you add it up on a national or international scale. There are a lot of other worthy causes out there looking for a piece of the pie. Don't put this much of it into one issue.