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The US Is Now the Only Country In the World To Reject the Paris Climate Deal
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Today, Syria announced that it would sign the Paris climate agreement -- a landmark deal that commits almost 200 countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to fight global warming. With Nicaragua also joining the deal last month, the United States is now the only country in the world that opposes it. In June, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, unless it is renegotiated to be "fair" to the United States. But other countries in the deal, such as France, Germany, and Italy, said that's not possible. The Trump administration is also taking steps to roll back regulations passed under former President Barack Obama to achieve the emissions reduction goals set under the Paris deal. The U.S. is the second largest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the world after China. "With Syria's decision, the relentless commitment of the global community to deliver on Paris is more evident than ever," Paula Caballero, director of the climate change program at the World Resources Institute, told the Times. "The U.S.'s stark isolation should give Trump reason to reconsider his ill-advised announcement and join the rest of the world in tackling climate change."
This is the problem with a President going out and creating legislation through Executive Orders. The next President that comes along can just as easily undo them with the swipe of a pen. This isn't something new to Obama or Trump, it's been done by multiple Presidents. If you want a law to stay a law, have it ratified by the LEGISLATIVE branch, not the EXECUTIVE branch.
I know the majority of voters in America can't even name the 3 branches much less describe their function, but a simple civics test at the polling booth could easily weed out those that should be allowed a vote in our Democracy versus those that should be sent to an American Idol polling booth and would never know the difference.
The Paris Climate Agreement contains no enforcement mechanisms. That means it was created so countries could say they were doing something without having to actually do anything. We have been down this road before a couple times. So how is an unenforceable agreement going to "save the planet?" Its previous versions didn't.
If it's a binding deal, it's a treaty and needed Senate ratification.
If it's not a binding deal, it's a useless turd.
Look, the actual economic powerhouse cities and states that drive more than half of the US GDP are already meeting and exceeding the Paris Accords.
It's just the inefficient tax-subsidized states that aren't, which is why they aren't growing their GDP.
Renewables and efficient buildings and plants allow us to outcompete you buggy whip manufacturing denialists.
Cheaper, faster, better.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Don't be like Trump - if you don't know what the hell you're talking about, stay quiet until you do.
Yeah. Just like we should be embarrassed that it's just us and the Liberians that use pounds and inches in everyday life. Global warming is largely a scam and Paris was a mechanism by which that scam transfers money from suckers to scammers.
First, the President of the United States cannot sign such an agreement. That requires a treaty which must be ratified by Congress. Secondly, why should the US agree to a treaty that has it bear most of the costs? That's the issue here. Sure, the rest of the world loves to sign a piece of paper which they really don't have to abide to, but that obligates the US transferring wealth to other countries. Sounds like a fair and workable deal to me.
It's always fun to be called out by ignorant fuckwits who want to push an agenda, but the facts are not on their side:
https://www.technologyreview.c...
"The inflection point has already been reached in the West, and by 2021 solar will be cheaper than coal in China."
Yes, fracking has historically been the reason coal is going away, but renewable sources are now adding to that.
"Those milestones will surely lead to greater adoption of clean energy. And the report predicts that of the $10.2 trillion expected to be invested into power generation between now and 2040, 72 percent will be channeled into renewables."
So crawl back under your bridge and STFU.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Except a) POTUS has no power to commit the US to any monetary payments (not even Obama), b) any targets and/or monetary contributions are determined entirely by the country itself (i.e. Congress again), and c) there's no enforcement, so no legal commitment in any form. Your whole post is a straw man.
I never heard the reason for its rejection being that AGW is false. No one advocating its rejection said so.
Well apart from the guy who runs the country, who was responsible it's rejection, who said so himself with his own words: https://twitter.com/realdonald...
Or is this fake news?
Trump didn't deny climate change as these media outlets would have you believe
Ok stop with the fake news/evil media thing. This is straight from the clown himself: https://twitter.com/realdonald...
Hey a$$holes. That was not a troll post. It is factually true. Our CO2 emissions have dropped as a result of increased use of natural gas (fracking) in place of coal.
The Paris Climate Treaty requires the US to subsidize developing countries. Read it for yourselves.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Unless you can buy me a new planet, still the US.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
China is doing incredibly well, vastly exceeding its already aggressive targets: http://climateactiontracker.or...
"Chinaâ(TM)s CO2 emissions appear to have peaked more than a decade ahead of its Paris Agreement NDC commitment to peak its CO2 emissions before 2030. The latest analysis from the Climate Action Tracker indicates that CO2 emissions may, in fact, already have stopped increasing and reached peak levels.
The on-going reduction in coal use for the third year in a row has had a major impact... China has already surpassed solar PV deployment target for 2020, and has now doubled its PV target for 2020 in response..."
Their main criticism is that the NDC target is too low (50-70% below 2005 levels) and should be further reduced to meet the maximum 2C global temperature rise goal, which is likely to happen in the next 5 year plan.
Here's the US assessment, by the way: http://climateactiontracker.or...
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC