China and the United States Sharing the Sphere: A Roadmap to Sustainability

The purpose of this thesis was to identify possible solutions to the environmental crisis brought on primarily by the use of fossil fuels and the need for ever-increasing amounts of energy to power civilization as well as the geopolitical consequences of procurement of fuel-energy sources, primarily oil, by the United States and China. The focus of the study was the responsibilities engendered by and the consequences of China the United States as the largest emitters of greenhouse gases that are contributing heavily to global warming. This paper reviews and establishes that solutions should be realized through a three-part approach involving technological solutions, regulatory solutions, and non-technological solutions. Technological solutions include both old and new methods of energy delivery coupled with ways to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. Regulatory solutions include both domestic and global regulatory issues and barriers in the United States and China. Non-technological solutions encompass the need to view the environmental crisis as essentially a moral dilemma and how this may be solved through a recognition that humans are part of and not separate from or somehow above the natural world as is recognized by many of our ethical, philosophical, and religious traditions. Finding solutions to complex global environmental problems cannot be realized through technology or regulation alone. Therefore, this paper recommends institutionalizing cooperation between China and the United States through a bilateral organization to be modeled on the Peace Corps, named Envirocorps, and to include involvement of non-governmental organizations and broad coalitions known as Global Action Networks to create and sustain processes needed to address complex global environmental problems from a public-private solutions networks.