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Earth Government United States

US Formally Withdraws From Paris Climate Agreement (theintercept.com) 250

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: The United States officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, casting the stakes of the still-undecided presidential election in planetary terms. With the completion of the formal withdrawal process, which Trump began in June 2017, the U.S. became the only country in the world not to participate in the global effort to fight the climate crisis. Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax and rolled back dozens of environmental regulations designed to protect the environment and stave off climate change, decided to exit the international agreement early in his term. But because the accord didn't allow countries to begin the formal withdrawal process until three years after it went into effect, the yearlong process officially began on November 4, 2019.

Joe Biden has promised to reenter the climate accord on the first day of his presidency. The process of rejoining would take just 30 days, enabling the country to be readmitted as a party as soon as February 19, 2021. The agreement, named for the city where the United Nations Conference of Parties struck it in 2015, aims to limit the global temperature rise to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. President Barack Obama pushed hard for the agreement, which his administration officially entered in September 2016. That year was the warmest year on record, although 2020 may soon top it. During the past four years, the Earth's temperature has continued to soar and unprecedented wildfires, flooding, droughts, sea level rise, and scorching temperatures have beset the world.

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US Formally Withdraws From Paris Climate Agreement

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  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday November 04, 2020 @10:33PM (#60685932)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by olsmeister ( 1488789 ) on Wednesday November 04, 2020 @10:41PM (#60685954)
      That'd be great... if this were a treaty.
      • Right, it's a voluntary agreement (accord) with voluntary targets and penalties.

        Quick question -was the US obligated to give anything to any other country under the non-treaty accord? Is this really something a President can unilaterally commit to?

        • Right, it's a voluntary agreement (accord) with voluntary targets and penalties.

          So? At least it shows a government accepts that climate change is a real threat.

          If any of them don't pull their weight they'll be exposed and ridiculed.

          TLDR; It's a start. It's a test of character.

          Orange Man pulling out just shows he's spineless/idiot/both.

          • by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @12:49AM (#60686200)

            At least it shows a government accepts that climate change is a real threat.

            Too many people think these documents of political posturing are important.

            What matters is better solar panels, better wind turbines, better batteries, more electric vehicles, telecommuting software, better smart meters, and smart appliances.

            It is us, the nerds, not politicians, who will save the world.

            • you mean nerds like Thomas Midgley?

            • What matters is better solar panels, better wind turbines, better batteries, more electric vehicles, telecommuting software, better smart meters, and smart appliances.

              Those things matter, but...

              It is us, the nerds, not politicians, who will save the world.

              ...politicians decide which of those things will be implemented. So the politicians can easily doom the world while the nerds are trying to save it. Therefore we can't simply ignore politics, which has never been a viable option, and never will be unless there's only one person left. And if there is, they'll probably go bananas, and argue with themself.

          • If any of them don't pull their weight they'll be exposed and ridiculed.

            What are you, a child? You simultaneously think this is an existential threat to mankind and the planet, and your 'or else' is 'ridicule'?

            Incredible.

            That actually sounds reasonable to you?

        • Right, it's a voluntary agreement (accord) with voluntary targets and penalties.

          Penalties LOL. What penalties kenh?
          Why bother to talk about something you are so obviously clueless about?

    • by quenda ( 644621 ) on Wednesday November 04, 2020 @11:14PM (#60686044)

      How is this a problem? Don't Republicans love their children too?
      All over the world, plenty of conservatives support the Paris Agreement as a minimal effort, while the left is more likely to criticise it as too little, and lacking any enforcement.
      After all, conservatives do not like change or economic instability. We should be well scared of climate change.

      Sure, a few do not believe it, but they can't all be idiots, and it only needs a few to be brave enough to cross the floor. It does not even actually require them to vote on unpopular measures.
      Do they really all think every other country is run by left-wing zealots, and climate change is a conspiracy? Or really not care about the consequences?
      Most younger Republican voters support increased action on climate change. Why not their parents?

      • Because money.

        And yes, they CAN be all idiots!

      • by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @01:26AM (#60686282)

        There are many reasons. One is religion. If one believse that the world will end a certain way because that is what your holy books teach, then one will resist any ideas that say otherwise. People have been arguing about what the end times will be like ever since John wrote his of revelations, but in the last 50-100 years many have claimed to have figured it all out, including the order of events, and climate change does not fit into their dogmatic picture. Do not discount this as just being a tiny minority of those thinking that climate change is a hoax.

        Money is another of course. Those people who refuse to evacuate when a flood comes and end up dying, it's the same reason. Why abandon your biggest asset in the world if there's a minuscule chance that the predictions are wrong. Combine the two and it's powerful. Just pray more and the house will be saved.

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Money, mostly the money of big corporations that see mitigating climate change as unprofitable so spend a lot of money fighting it, and convincing the victims of climate change to fight it too.

    • It doesn't make any difference, right? The Paris Accord was largely symbolic. Countries are allowed to set their own targets, and there is no enforcement.
    • The climate accord doesn't require specific actions, it requires everyone to work at their own pace. There's no actions that need a force of law. Not being in the Paris Accords is just making a very public statement that you hate the earth.

  • Paris Accord is meaningless and inactionable. Real environmentalists even agree it's pointless.

    "Beyond that, itâ(TM)s nearly impossible even to evaluate or compare them. Developing countries actually blocked a requirement that the plans use a common format and metrics, so an INDC need not even mention emissions levels. Or a country can propose to reduce emissions off a self-defined âoebusiness-as-usualâ trajectory, essentially deciding how much it wants to emit and then declaring it an

  • by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Thursday November 05, 2020 @02:05AM (#60686370)
    We wouldn't have climate change if people would just stop looking for it.

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