Topic: Encouraging Alternative Energy
Country: Switzerland
Delegate Name: Julien Levesque
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Switzerland position papers GLIMUN 2015 committees
Global warming became an international UN policy issue starting in 1971 when the SMIC (a conference of Swedish and MIT scientists) met to discuss the gravity of the growing issues of climate change. It goes without saying, the concerns of those scientists have ultimately been validated by copious amounts of data, birthed from industrious sovereignties which had been damaging the environment for decades. International environmental protection awareness is necessary, but there is a surprising lack of action against the injustices committed by grossly industrious super-powers.
To combat the absence of environmental justice in the past decades, alternative energy should be a competitive resource for sovereignties interested in protecting the earth that we’ve inhabited for eons, but at the current rate, may only continue to inhabit for a few hundred years.
Many attempts have been made by the country of Switzerland to lessen impact of environmental destruction. In 2011, Swiss government imparted environmental protection and industry restriction on the growth of nuclear energy use, and starting in 2012, a decline of nuclear energy use within Switzerland became apparent. 77% of all Swiss citizens are opposed to nuclear energy use, reflected by the significant growth of recycling, nearly double the energy production within the nation produced from electricity, and a growth in railway infrastructure to counteract vehicle emission pollution.
Switzerland’s national contribution to climate change has been significantly reduced by an induction of numerous types of alternative energy; excluding the use of nuclear energy, expanding low pollution electric power, and producing energy from repurposing recyclable products.
These reformations have been an effective component in improving the health of the global environment. Alternative energies, particularly those used by Switzerland, have proven to be useful environmental policies in the preservation of our national parks, mountains, and lakes. Reforming the use of nuclear energy is important in the reduction of global climate change, however it is not among the beliefs of Switzerland to impose on the sovereign privileges of independant nations to act on these allegations. Sustainable proof has been presented in the effectiveness of said policies and regulations, however, there is strength and balance in impartiality, and in totality, we feel our actions should be a stance of leadership rather than an imposition in the tendency of other nations to promote alternative energy.
