We humans have lived in this planet for thousands of years. Right now we are finally seeing the negative effects regarding the incorrect or bad ways we have treated earth, our planet. We are releasing an insane amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are causing major environmental disasters such as Global Warming. When something goes wrong we humans need to correct it and major countries looked up deep into the problem. The solution that prevailed to save us from gigantic environmental disasters was given the name of Cap & Trade. It has the purpose of decreasing our pollutions and decreasing our Carbon Footprint, but is it really the solution? Or is it simply a way to make the world and us humans believe that we are actually trying to fix the problems but actually doing nothing?

Cap & Trade is a system created by the governments from different countries. Each government that uses Cap & Trade gives away permits to companies which allow them to pollute a certain amount with no consequences at all. Depending on what the companies manufacture or produce they get different amounts of free permits. This is the “Cap” part of the solution. The trade part is when companies who need more permits buy permits from other companies who don’t need them. Also the people who make the trading part possible get profit from simply executing the trade.

It sounds as a perfect plan doesn’t it? No pollution, no one loses their companies or has to decrease their production and the people who make the trades get rich, but as always with good things bad things come along or simply there are ways to decrease more pollution. First of all, how can governments give these companies permits for free? If we really want to make a change that is the first point to change in Cap & Trade. To really decrease the pollution created by companies the government could simply tax or sell the permits making the companies more aware and careful when it is time to pollute because it really costs for them. I even personally believe nothing regarding the environment and our planet should include money, it’s priceless! But sadly in the world we live in it is ethically impossible for this to happen. Also I don’t believe companies should be able to buy permits from other companies. Powerful companies for example Coca Cola, could simply buy lots and lots of permits and keep on polluting the same way that they have always been, and it definitely should not be that way if we actually want to make a change and or difference.

All of this makes me think of one of the major problems it developed, injustice in the world. How are these countries with major industries going to pay the damage they have done? Millions and millions of people are not even informed with what pollution is and anyways are suffering the problem, and what does Cap & Trade do to solve this problem? Absolutely nothing. Indigenous people from all over the world no matter if they polluted or not have to pay the same price than people who do nothing more than pollute. According to National Geographic a boy in the USA makes a bigger impact on the world by the age of 8 than a Tanzanian person in his entire life. How can this be fair?

Cap & Trade may look great at first but actually it has major flaws and simply appears as a distraction that we humans can not fall into. People are making money and yeah they might be making a little change but there are possibilities to make huge changes and being fair to the world and we need to discover them or correct them now before it is too late, and we will have to confront the biggest environmental disaster we have ever faced, as a whole, as humanity itself.