AP Environmental Science

So I am almost positive that most of us have been on an airplane at least once in our lives. If not, think of all of your family and friends that have flown before. With hundreds of thousands of planes hitting the skyway each day, greenhouse gases can easily accumulate.

A modern day airplane (Photo credit: www.wikepedia.com)

Norway and Britian have decided to “buy emissions quotas to combat global warming.” Most concerning is the rise of fuel burnt on international flights releasing emissions. The airlines are exempt from “fighting climate change” under the U.N.’s Kyoto Protocol, but not for that long. The protocol expires in 2012. Athough that may seem like not too far away, again think about how many airplanes take off and land at O’Hare in just one day.

Norway has recently stated that they will “buy quotas for the emissions caused by the trip” when state employees travel abroad by plane.

Not only are governments doing this, but companies are too. They include: Avis Europe (car rentals) and Statoil (Norwegian oil group).

Hopefully, this will help reduce the amount of emissions, although I am still not completely sure of how this works. I don’t understand how paying for emissions is going to reduce them, but maybe the government is doing this as an incentive. I do know one thing for sure; greenhouse gases need to be lowered to prevent global warming.

Norway, UK Try to Tackle Planes’ Greenhouse Gases By: Alister Doyle http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11960