Dear President, 

Congratulations on winning a rigorous campaign to hold the office of President of the United States. After more than a year of campaigning against many opponents, it is inevitable that more than a few enemies have been made so it is your job to once again unite the country. The topic of the environment is one that can be supported by both sides of the political spectrum and can be used as such to fuse the country together.

One of the most important issues with the environment is global warming. None of the previous three presidential debates contained any content to address climate change. Global warming has been denied and rejected as false by many people in the past but it is now too significant and relevant that it must be taken seriously. Action in the form of legislation needs to be taken to minimize and reverse the damage that the United States has contributed to the problem of global warming.

Global warming will change many aspects of the ecosystem as we know it. Each organism lives in a specific limit and range of temperature and precipitation that make up the climate. The range that it can survive in is called the organism's niche. When there is climate change the climates that make up the world, based on the solar angle and the concentration of sunlight that reaches the Earth, shift North and South along the lines of latitude. The climates moving North and South forces organisms to either adapt to their new climate or to migrate to their necessary climate. This is problematic however because it is much easier for most animals to move as opposed to plants. This process will and has already led to habitats being destroyed and lost.

Global warming is caused in large part because of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is defined as a natural process that heats the Earth. The gasses that contribute to this process are gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The gas that has the most relevance on this topic is carbon dioxide as it makes up 64% of the gas contributed by humans to global warming according to the EPA. The carbon dioxide is added to the already existing gasses in the atmosphere at such high rates that there is a large excess created. Global warming comes from this excess gas in the atmosphere that causes the Earth to warm at inconsistent rates that have not been seen in the past. Carbon dioxide comes primarily from burning fossil fuels and car emissions. Both of these factors can be regulated and controlled by the United States government.

My main concern is with carbon emissions. There is more that can be done to reduce these emissions. Currently, for many projects that will impact the environment, there is a required environmental impact assessment, EIA. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is the main defense for the environment in the United States and there is not much that they can do. When a company is polluting the EPA gives them the option to install equipment that will decrease their pollution however often times the equipment is more expensive than the alternative, paying a fine. Many big companies that can afford to will opt to pay the fine instead of paying for the more expensive equipment which shows how weak our EPA can be.

In your presidency action needs to be taken to save and protect the environment. Laws need to be passed shift the power from companies to the EPA. The EPA needs the power and authority to enforce environmental protection. Laws also need to be passed to reduce the carbon emissions that contribute so much to the greenhouse effect if regard to cars and burning fossil fuels. The repercussions of standing idly by are too important to the future of the country and the planet as a whole. This is the time that policy can be changed to protect our future.

Thank you and good luck,

Cole W.