United States of America 

Leapfrogging

 

What is leapfrogging? In environmental science terms, leapfrogging is when one country develops new technology and passes it along to another country. This allows them to skip some of the environmentally damaging steps of creating more advanced technology. In this case, we could use renewable energy as an example. Right now the U.S. is in the forefront of creating new techniques to produce clean and renewable energy. If the U.S. passes along the cleaner technology to developing countries before they produce massive amounts of carbon emissions the developing country would leapfrog over many environmental complications that are accomanied by overuse of dirty energy. 

 

Why is this so important? While the U.S. was in the midst of the industrial revolution many carbon emissions were released into the air. Now that some countries, such as the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries are in their industrial revolution the U.S. could lend a helping hand. As of right now, China is the largest producer of CO2. If the U.S. can share the renewable energy source with China, it could help lower the extreme carbon emissions that are being released from such a rapidly developing country. 

 

What else needs to be done? Although China is the largest producer of CO2, the U.S. is right behind them. Not only does the U.S. need to help other countries, but it needs to help itself.The U.S., due to the powerful economy and progressive technology, is a worldwide leader. By taking the right steps forward, the U.S. could lead others in the right direction.