Professional Documents
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Mock Trial - MLS 4 Final
Mock Trial - MLS 4 Final
, or
De f e nd y o
i
ur
l ty
s
…
e l f
b u t 1. US Government
a d g u n d t o
ple re sp o The USA could lead by example but you
m u s t !
yo u s a t i o n did the opposite!
a c c u
your
• Starting a carbon cap (limit on CO2) would
reduce emissions dramatically. Taxing it
The USA emits the most greenhouse gases (GHG) of any major would also.
nation:
• The US Government refused to sign the
• 2 times as much as: UK, Germany, Italy and 3 times as much as Mexico Kyoto Protocol. (the most significant effort
& France taken by governments to reduce GHGs)
• Almost nothing has been done to promote alternative energy. • Instead of taking action you push ethanol as
a fuel which in the end, creates as much
• The USA continues pushing Petroleum (oil) based products; causing a greenhouse gas pollution as petroleum.
large amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
• You could try to decrease it by taxing it, but you have kept your taxes
low at 38 cents per gallon. Other countries in Europe, for example, tax
2 as follows: France $3.92, Germany $4.40.
2. US Consumers
Defend yourself, or plead
Buy, Buy, buy. That’s you….Capitalism at its best guilty … but you must
respond to your accusation!
• US consumer culture lies at the core of this crisis.
Bigger houses, more stuff, constant buying.
Your addiction to cars and oil are also
• USA has 5% of the worlds population, but consumes contributing to greenhouse gas pollution. You
more than 25% of the worlds resources. drive EVERYWHERE.
• If everyone in the world consumed like a typical US The average person in the US creates 4x the
consumer, we would need 3-5 more planets. carbon emissions as the average Chinese
person. China may release more greenhouse
• The average US consumer consumes twice as much as gases overall, but if the Chinese lived like
they did 50 years ago and spends 4x more shopping as Americans—we would be in even more
people in developed European countries. trouble.
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Defend
yoursel
f, or ple
3. Governments of China, India guilty …
respond
but you ad
must
and “other” developing countries to your
accusat
ion!
The fuel that releases the most CO2 into the
atmosphere is coal. Your countries are not only using a lot of
coal you are burning down forests also!
• China burns more coal each year than the US, Japan
and the EU put together.
• Cutting down trees and burning rainforest
• land is responsible for 15% of greenhouse
In the next 8 years China plans to add 562 coal-fired
gases yearly.
plants. BIG plants.
• People think that poor countries are not to
• India plans to build 213 during the same time.
blame for climate change, but than be.
• We know that coal is the worst greenhouse gas
• Which countries were the largest emitters
polluter and yet governments of these countries
of greenhouse gases in 2013? China, the
continue down this path.
US, and India
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4.“The Market” Global Capitalism
We all know burning coal and oil creates carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and contributes to climate
change.
• But you still send out messages that we need more coal and oil. You continue to destroy mountains to get
more coal and want to mine more in the US to sell to Asia.
• You push to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
• You are not out to produce energy, but profit. You could choose to put money into solar and wind power, or
encouraging people to use LESS energy. But, you wouldn’t make your profit, so you’d NEVER do this.
• You fight consumer attempts to make cars more fuel efficient. Why? Because the more oil consumed by cars
= the more profit in your pockets.
• It’s as if you care nothing for the future. In your perfect world, you would drill, drill, and drill without
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thinking of anything besides where to drill next.