OTM 2: WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS


I chose to talk about this because, well, I just got back from Paris. If you haven't been, I recommend it 10/10.


This OTM starts out with a quote from Trump saying "We're going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of the US tax dollars to UN global warming programs." Well, he can't necessarily cancel it, but what he CAN do is sign an executive order that basically eliminates President Obama's "climate legacy" by not meeting it's carbon emission goals set in Paris. And he did that. This week. He claims he did this in order to lift the restrictions on American energy so that America can do whatever America wants with Americas energy (also an act of reversing "government intrusion").


What is the Paris agreement, anyways? Technically, it's never been into effect. It's been held up in court for over a year. Obama declared this a "turning point for the world." It's an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020, so the agreement is a sketch of a fuller deal that would take place later (in 2020). It's basically a way to limit the amount of greenhouse gases being produced into the air, otherwise quoted as a "binding process in which countries individually pledge to change course from business as usual on carbon dioxide and other gases and also deforestation." Essentially, 187 countries would cut their emissions to help global warming.


If anything, it's there as a goal. It's something to strive to achieve. But let's be real, we are NOWHERE near the advances to completely "decarbonize," right? But we need to start somewhere. I personally think the fact the Trump does not want America to play a part of this as ridiculous. People. WE CAN NOT DENY CLIMATE CHANGE. IT IS REAL. IT IS PRESENT. AND IT IS FACTUAL. And the fact that we have a current standing president who continues to deny this is truly and honestly disheartening. We HAVE to take these steps towards eliminating these emissions if we want to save the planet that we live on. I don't understand the logic/inconsequential nature that stands behind this. So, that's where I stand. We need this treaty, we need to participate in it, and we need to strive towards these goals.