Charles Pierce Esq:At This Point, If You Deny Climate Change... [View all]

[2naSalit]

My apologies if this has been posted earlier, looked and didn't see it anywhere. It's an interesting review of the COP21 agreement.

At This Point, If You Deny Climate Change, You Are a Traitor to Your Species
By Charles Pierce, Esquire
15 December 15

A landmark deal on the most important issue of our time—just in time for the Republican debate.


WORLD LEADERS INK PACT!"

Sorry, some sportswriting broke out there for a moment. We continue.

The deal was struck in a rare show of near-universal accord, as poor and wealthy nations from across the political and geographic spectrum expressed support for measures that require all to take steps to battle climate change. The agreement binds together pledges by individual nations to cut or limit emissions from fossil-fuel burning, within a framework of rules that provide for monitoring and verification as well as financial and technical assistance for developing countries. The overarching goal is to bring down pollution levels so that the rise in global temperatures is limited to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial averages. Delegates added language that expressed an ambition to restrict the temperature increase even further, to 1.5 degrees C, if possible.

As Bill McKibben points out, this deal could have gone further than it does. But, as McKibben also points out, the very fact of the treaty itself is cause for celebration. At the very least, some people got together and talked the Earth and its people—and, perhaps, even their politicians, although I expect no miracles—off the ledge, for the moment, anyway. The representatives of the world's governments got together and agreed that the climate crisis is real and that is largely caused by human beings who burn fossil fuels. What that means is that ignorance is no longer an excuse. What that means is that, on the world stage, anyway, you can't duck your responsibility because you're "not a scientist." Hereafter, anyone who denies the basic science of climate change, or who stands athwart the attempts to resolve the crisis, is cast as a traitor to his species, and to all the others as well. If you don't think that's a big deal, then watch the way this treaty is discussed on Tuesday night at the next Republican presidential debate.

One question, of course, is that of urgency, and there McKibben departs from the celebration a little bit early. Despite the misgivings of environmentalists, the stated goals of the treaty are ambitious, and they brook no delay. McKibben likens it to the difference between running a marathon simply to finish and running a marathon competitively.

More at link http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34057-at-this-point-if-you-deny-climate-change-you-are-a-traitor-to-your-species