Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

The Trump administration’s move Monday to start the clock on pulling out of the Paris climate agreement places the U.S. at odds with the entire rest of the world — once again — when it comes to committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The move has little practical effect for energy policy in the United States, where President Donald Trump is already dismantling Obama-era regulations on major sources of heat-trapping emissions such as power plants and automobiles.

But it hands a ready talking point to the Democrats running to replace him, all of whom have pledged to rejoin the agreement if Trump pulls out. And Trump's action is symbolically striking in the realm of international climate diplomacy, coming just weeks before nations are due to gather for yet another climate conference in Madrid.


“I think there is a big difference of him doing this now before the [conference],” said Andrew Light, a State Department negotiator under former President Barack Obama who is now at World Resources Institute. “Many countries out there are going to be taking a harder stand on the U.S. in the [conference] depending on what is said in the letter.”

Wait, didn't this already happen?
In climate diplomacy, nothing happens quickly.

While Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris agreement in June 2017 and has since portrayed the decision as a done deal — “We did away with that one,” he said in Pittsburgh last month — Monday was the first day he could formally put that plan into motion. That's because the terms of the Paris agreement don't allow participants to withdraw until three years after it took effect.

However, it will be another year until the U.S. is officially out — on Nov. 4, 2020, one day after the p**********l e******n. That means the State Department would still send a delegation to the 25th Conference of Parties scheduled to convene next month, where countries are supposed to work out details of how they will fulfill their promises to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Is this going to be an e******n issue?
C*****e c****e has emerged as a top issue in the Democratic primary, where the candidates have outlined competing proposals — some costing trillions of dollars — for weaning the U.S. off f****l f**ls and t***sitioning the country toward relying mostly on wind, solar and other renewable energy.

Even some moderate Republicans are calling on the GOP to acknowledge the reality of c*****e c****e, seeing the issue as key for attracting young v**ers who are increasingly worried about the havoc that scientists are projecting for the latter half of the century.

Still, the Paris deal remains unpopular among the most conservative Republicans who make up Trump's strongest base of support. House Republicans last week circulated a draft resolution, led by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), backing a clean break Monday from the Paris agreement, and underscoring the party's objection to the climate deal.

Are we just giving up on c*****e c****e?
Once the withdrawal notice is out, the U.S. will be the only country on Earth not in the agreement, which asks participants to submit individual pledges to reduce emissions . (The goal is to limit temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a figure that much research has pointed to as the threshold for catastrophic warming.) But the commitments that countries have submitted so far are well short of that goal — as were the pledges that the Obama administration offered in Paris four years ago.

The president has repeatedly scoffed at the notion that c*****e c****e is even a problem, and his administration has shown a clear preference for boosting domestic oil, gas and coal production by eliminating or rewriting Obama's regulations.

However, some states like California and New York are stepping up their efforts to reduce emissions and produce more renewable energy, and businesses are facing growing consumer pressure to clean up their act. U.S. states, cities and businesses who said they remain committed to the Paris accord goals account for $10.1 trillion in GDP, making them the third-largest economy behind the entire U.S. and China, according to the World Resources Institute. Serious doubts exist that those steps will be enough without the leadership of the U.S. government, however.

What will the rest of the world do?
Trump maintains little interest in the international climate talks. He called Chilean President Sebastián Piñera last week to offer support for the leader’s decision to cancel the upcoming climate conference that had been planned for Santiago and allow them to take place elsewhere amid violent protests in the country.

But the deal itself seems likely to survive the U.S. exit, and U.S. negotiators have largely operated with little overt political influence from the White House.

The Trump administration saw last year’s climate negotiations in Katowice, Poland, as a priority because it wanted to secure strong t***sparency and reporting requirements for countries' carbon emissions, as a way to keep China in check.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/04/us-paris-climate-exit-trump-065706

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

The problem isn't with the US.... China emits far greater CO2 than does the US, yet they are given a pass in the goals set for them.... That's not equitable and I don't blame the administration for its actions...

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Let us know when you guys stop using heating oil, then maybe we might think you to be something other than hypocrites.

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

Everyone of us uses firewood.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Just as bad....

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Even worse for the environment, but of course you did not learn that on MSNBC or CNN so you wouldn't know.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/01/pollutionwatch-wood-burning-is-not-climate-friendly

Rose42

Firewood is great but that isn't true.

Steven Seward Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

"The entire rest of the World"? I can already tell from the opening paragraph that this is baloney. There are nine other countries that didn't sign on with the Paris Climate Accord.

Steven Seward Loc: Cleveland, Ohio

G****l W*****g is one of my pet topics. I used to study the science behind it and I decided it was all a big h**x.

Aside from that, the Paris Climate Accord is probably an even bigger h**x perpetrated to make countries feel better about themselves, and use the talking points to get re-elected by ignorant masses. There are absolutely no enforcements to compel countries to reduce their carbon emissions. In fact, as of a year ago, only 7 countries of the World have even put out a plan to reduce their carbon emissions to the Paris levels. These would be India (a big polluter), Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Philippines, Morocco, and Gambia (countries that would make zero difference if they went back to the Stone Age immediately.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/11/few-countries-are-meeting-paris-climate-goals-here-are-ones-that-are/

This will be the Kyoto Protocal all over again, when every single signatory country did not only fall short of their CO2 reductions, they didn't have any net reductions at all! Meanwhile, at the same time, the United States reduced its CO2 emissions by about 20%.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

So, C*****rs, now that you have learned that firewood is the worst fuel that you can use for the environment, are you going to change to natural gas, I am sure that would cause you to sacrifice but is that not what you call on others to do? Or, are you just like all the other libs that sacrifice nothing yet call on others to sacrifice so that you can feel that you are a part of the movement yet do nothing that would cause you discomfort to support it?

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Now what?

More l*****t wailing and gnashing of toofies.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

By the way trees absorb carbon and when they burn as in fires the carbon is released into the atmosphere.

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

He is saving the U.S. taxpayers more money that would have gone to other countries to fix their issues.

Elaine2025 Loc: Seattle, Wa

Kanucks do not have the ability to make determinations, they simply don't think.

Elaine2025 Loc: Seattle, Wa

The left has mental deficiencies that cannot be corrected.