My name is Kirah and I am 15. I live in Mooresville, North Carolina, United States. My Carbon Footprint is 22958 kg of CO₂ per year. It is above average for the total in North Carolina. The majority of my foot print came from the transportation and the things I do at home. I was very surprised because I thought I used less the the average. It really wasn’t what I expected because I thought I was cutting down on the amount of electric. I learned that I really need to watch what I do and be more eco-friendly. I think in the future I will try to un-plug my electronics and walk more.

Hi I’m a 13 year old, also from Taiwan. I have a different point of view on the role of government in protecting the environment. The government does havesome steps to reduce carbon emissions, such as running public transportation. However, it is also very inefficient in doing so. The government spends a lot of money trying to reduce carbon emissions, but corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency result in the government not being able to do as much for the money, as compared to private corporations. Our government is not doing a good job of running the electric and oil companies, which are government-run, and the construction of the subway is also incredibly slow, compared to other countries. A private company, if competing with them, will definitely win. I also think with the increased scarcity of oil and gas, the use of fossil fuels and many carbon-producing resources will decrease with time. The role of the government in this is to tax externalities, for example charging money for polluting, perhaps per kilograms of carbon released, and subsidize potentially beneficial industries, that provide a social benefit, such as solar and wind power. However, they should not run these companies as they do now, with the electric and oil companies, but instead allow competition and privatization of these companies to provide a fair price and be environmentally sustainable.

Rooftop Revolution: Changing Everything with Cost-Effective Local Solar:

The solar opportunity is driven by converging economics: the installed cost of solar has fallen 10% per year since 2006 and grid electricity prices have averaged a 2% annual increase in the last decade.

Nearly 100 million Americans could install over 60,000 megawatts of solar at less than grid prices – without subsidies – by 2021. If the trends continue, there may be an outbreak of economical solar.

William Kamkwamba, the young man in Malawi who, at age 14, built a windmills to bring electiricity to his village is one of the great lateral thinkers. He built hiw windmills based only on pictures he saw in a book. Everyone in his village mocked his efforts, calling him crazy…until the electricity his windmill produced changed the life of everyone in the village.