GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY
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Governments have responsibility to help protect our environment. In order to do that governments need to get together and pass international laws to control pollution as well as invest in alternative energy sources to help prevent environmental disasters.. It is the people’s responsibility to keep the environment protected if global climate change exists or not. We MUST keep the environment clean to ensure its and ,maybe, our survival.

For example, the Kyoto Protocol is a treaty between countries to aid the reduction of greenhouse gases that they create, such as C02 (Carbon Dioxide).  It was written and voted on in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997. Each country has a certain gas to reduce, depending on their economic health and how much they emit.  This may sound like a good idea, but it is ,unfortunately, not yet accepted by every country. For example, USA has not ratified it although it is one of the world’s largest carbon dioxide emission countries. Kyoto Protocol has come into action and many countries are doing their part to reduce emissions. Hopefully USA and other countries that have not yet, will soon ratify it as well. This treaty will hopeful rid some of the pollution in the atmosphere through global collaboration.


In addition, governments of each country should make laws to protect environment.  For example, in the USA government made a law called The Clean Air Act so there is less pollution in the air. The Clean Air Act is having some companies change their goods so they don't release as much pollution in the air and cause problems. Some of the text in the law states that you may not release a certain amount of pollutants into the air. The law required some car companies to change their chemicals so that they don't give off as many pollutants as usual.

On Wednesday, March 12, 2008, the government said that the air in the U.S. was too dirty to be breathing. The government ordered a multibillion dollar development for efforts to clean smog in counties, cities, and towns nationwide. The E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) says that it is tightening the amount of smog allowed in the air. The lowest standard falls short of what health experts say will notably reduce heart and asthma attacks caused from breathing the smoggy air. An E.P.A. agent said "the new smog necessities were the most rigorous standards ever". The state and local officials have come up with a strict deadline to meet this goal for having less polluted air – as much as 20 years for places that have the most serious pollution problems in their county.

The E.P.A. approximates that by 2020, the number of counties failing to reach the standards of air pollution will be about 28. For an old standard set about a decade ago, about 85 counties fell short of it. The new standard will lower the allowable concentration of the ozone in the air to no more than 75 parts per billion. This is compared to a recent standard of 80 parts per billion. (Parts per billion or million are the measurements used to test and record the amount of CO2 in the air.) Science boards say that the agency that successfully lowers the parts per billion in the ozone to 60 or 70 billion will protect the most vulnerable citizens, the ones with asthma or other respiratory illnesses. These standards will help stop global warming or at the least, lower the levels of it.