Sociopolitical Solutions

This past week as we have talked about sociopolitical solutions I think we have encountered a topic that is difficult to find a easy solution to. As we watched the movie Carbon Hunters I had mixed feelings about the idea of putting a price on carbon. I think the idea has good intentions of trying to keep carbon out of the air, however, their are flaws in the system. This is to be expected for a brand new market, although, I believe that these flaws need to be fixed before this market expands and people begin relying on it to fight climate change. One of the bugs I noticed is that the sellers of the carbon credits have the ability to exploit the system and make a boatload of money for something that does not benefit the environment. My example of this is the man who was in the oil business who is planning on buying thousands of acres of the rainforest in order to preserve it and sell the carbon credits. This is cheating the system because for one, the rainforest was already there, he did nothing to change the environment. Secondly, there are many illegal things that go on in the rainforest such as deforestation. Without people literally protecting this part of the rainforest from these activities they will continue and those who are committing the crimes will go unpunished. Another issue I saw is social injustice. Some carbon sellers are using natives to do physical labor to make money. I see this as an issue because they are making others do their work and then they are basically selling the natives physical labor for their own profit. If these bug in the system are eradicated I think that putting a price on carbon could be a way to fight climate change. Next, after reviewing the policies for COP21 in Paris I believe that there are areas that are going to cause conflict such as particular dates for reducing carbon emissions, the percent each country is responsible for reducing, and finally agree on which options for policies are the best for the world. There is some things that I can see being agreed upon. I believe the first idea that will be agreed on immediately is that the world needs to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere over time. I also believe that their will be consensus on the idea that each country is responsible for a portion of climate reduction. Overall, a great week of discussion.