‘Hot air’ is not from climate change
Urgent weather alert! That warming trend now sweeping the globe isn’t the result of climate change, but hot air from the hysterical, frantic reaction to the United States withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.
These folks need to chill, because the only thing rising faster than sea levels is their blood pressure.
And that’s too bad, since their mercurial reactions are woefully misguided.
Pulling out of the Paris agreement isn’t the planet’s death knell. In fact, it may turn out to be the best motivator for combatting carbon emissions.
Just as nature needs a severe weather disturbance every now and then to restore balance, the world community needed a jolting political disturbance to snap leaders – and their people – out of complacency, waking them up to the fact that action, not make-believe, gets results.
There are two distinct parts to this debate: America’s pullout from the climate agreement, and the issue of climate change itself, which is another column.
People on both sides need to take a deep breath, step back and stick to the truth.
Pushing agendas bereft of facts and demonizing the opposition isn’t helpful, and serves only to hinder progress in areas where we have common ground.
The accord is not a treaty, so is not legally binding. In fact, language in the agreement was changed several years ago, where “shall” was replaced with “should” – a monumentally important point.
Even if the U.S. had signed on, the agreement would have been meaningless because the accord simply asks nations to do their part – what they think they “should” do. There is no enforcement, because there is nothing to enforce. It is an agreement with no teeth – no mandates, no penalties, and quite frankly, no way to generate consequential outcomes.
It took a long time, but Democratic mayors and governors have finally seen the light on the states’ rights issue.
They made proclamations criticizing the federal government’s decision to withdrawal, and, in true power-to-the-people spirit, pledged to, on their own, implement Paris-agreement standards for their cities and states.
And that’s the way it should be – personal initiative trumping reliance on Washington.
A study conducted last year by MIT researchers entitled, “How much of a difference will the Paris Agreement make?” showed that if countries abided by their pledges – and that’s a mighty big “if” – global warming would slow by between 0.6 degree and 1.1 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, which is a far cry from stated targets.
People must stop mindlessly repeating the herd-mentality response that “we need the Paris agreement to save the planet,” while self-righteously sipping their lattes because somehow regurgitating that line makes them “environmentally conscious.” It doesn’t. It makes them dangerously naïve.
Actions have consequences. And signing onto an accord that impacts millions – while accomplishing virtually nothing – would have severely detrimental consequences.
The Trump Team, as usual, made blunder after blunder in announcing the withdrawal. And because they took the wrong approach to the right decision, they are, once again, suffering in the court of public opinion.
First, the fact that administration officials are scared to state: “Yes, we believe humans have contributed to global warming” makes their credibility plummet.
It’s OK to follow that up with “we don’t know to what extent, but we will err on the side of caution by implementing policies that protect both the environment and American workers. And they are not mutually exclusive.” But by refusing to address that basic question, their job became that much harder.
And second, where was the multimillion-dollar ad campaign explaining the president’s decision? Nonexistent, as always. You can’t tweet your justifications, nor can you rely on the so-called “fake news media” to articulate your message.
Perhaps the administration should change its own “climate” by hiring sharper people.
That way, the world would understand the true facts about the doomed Paris agreement, and how the United States will always lead the fight against global warming.