Smog over Santiago, Chile
Scientists have proposed that a short-term solution to lowering greenhouse gas emissions could be to raise the price of oil and gas to curb consumption. If businesses and consumers have to pay more to use coal and oil they will inevitably find ways to live using less of these resources. Another concept that is in talks is a cap-and-trade system, in which companies that surpass their limit on the amount of pollution they are allowed to emit must buy credits from other businesses that have not reached their limit (therefore rewarding businesses that pollute less and putting a cap on the total emissions allowed).
The overall goal for these proposed solutions is to slow global warming. These solutions may be hard to pass in congress, as consumers and businesses alike are feeling the effects of a slumping economy. However, we do have to start somewhere, even if it's not easy. Who ever said change was easy?
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