Ramblings about the PARIS ACCORD.

I wonder why there are so many climate deniers . Earth's climate has changed over periods of millions of years . There is evidence that since the 1970s the average temperature of the air rose about (1)>>1-1/4 of a degree { some say the temp rose by 2 degrees since the 1880s } either way even if you are the most biblically faithful , or deepest in religiosity the Bible warns against "ruining the earth"  as a warning to Mankind. Some people believe that humans are causing global warming. Others vehemently deny that.What I do know is that humans pollute and burn a lot of fossil fuels.  "All creation groans in pain from the beginning til now" (Rom 8:22). Denining any kind of change to the climate without any instinct on the part of any nation falls under that category . (2)>>So what is up with the Paris Accord ? In a live stream at The White House Thursday, Trump said, “In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the U.S. will withdraw form the Paris climate accord.” Trump announced the country will immediately cease implementation of the non-binding accord, including ending implementation of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions and pledge to the Green Climate Fund. According to the Trump agenda getting out of the Accord will save Americans "jobs" . He might be "referring " to the Coal industry ? Or unreasonable "regulations" . There is a serious problem with pulling out . First of all two other nations bailed out , Syria and Nicaragua. Funny thing about Trump's decision is that  Syria didn’t sign the agreement because the country remains locked in a protracted civil war { fueled by our American government of course }  that the United Nations estimates may have displaced 12 million people and resulted in more than 250,000 deaths. Meanwhile, Nicaraguan leaders said they declined to enter the Paris agreement not because they didn’t want to abide by new emissions standards but because those standards weren’t strict enough and didn’t require enough sacrifice from wealthier countries with larger economies, according to Reuters.  Withdrawing the United States out of the accord puts our world leadership in "saving the earth" , working with other nations in jeopardy . White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said during Trump's first overseas trip that the carbon emission limitations the Obama administration agreed to (3)>>"would be highly crippling to U.S. economic growth," and if Trump had to choose between limiting carbon emissions and economic growth, "growing our economy is going to win." Trump is not a supporter of strong environmental protections on the federal level, and during the presidential campaign he pledged to pull the nation out of the accord, calling climate change a hoax created by the Chinese to hurt the U.S. economy. Since taking office, Trump's policies have favored delaying or rolling back rules that would limit carbon emissions by U.S. companies. Trump did not discuss climate science nor the dire consensus among nearly all peer-reviewed climatologists that emissions from burning fossil fuels, industrial farming and deforestation have put the planet on course to warm beyond the point where the climate will be irreversibly changed by the end of the century.Trump's top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, warned against leaving the Paris deal. It puts the U.S. in a very small camp; the only other countries not part of the agreement are Syria, which is in the midst of a civil war, and Nicaragua, which argued that the Paris accord did not go far enough to curb global emissions. Former Secretary of State John Kerry calls Trump's decision "an irresponsible walking back of American leadership."

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>1-1/4 of a degree . Can't deny some facts from NASA , The world is getting warmer. Whether the cause is human activity or natural variability—and the preponderance of evidence says it’s humans—thermometer readings all around the world have risen steadily since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.  Change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures. Sixteen of the 17 warmest years in the 136-year record all have occurred since 2001, with the exception of 1998. The year 2016 ranks as the warmest on record. This web site "explains" what has been going in an illustrated graph { xkcd: Earth Temperature Timeline https://xkcd.com/1732/ }  as far as a history of human and climate manipulation .  (2)>>So what is up with the Paris Accord ? What is the Paris climate change agreement? In 2015, the United States and nearly 200 other nations agreed to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to keep the global temperature increase this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels, and work to limit the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Each country agreed to put forth and meet nationally determined contributions that would help keep global temperature levels down and assist in funding responses to climate change's effects on more vulnerable, developing countries. As The Washington Post’s Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis reported Wednesday, “More than 190 nations agreed to the accord in December 2015 in Paris, and 147 have since formally ratified or otherwise joined it, including the United States — representing more than 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.”“A U.S. withdrawal would remove the world’s second-largest emitter and nearly 18 percent of the globe’s present-day emissions from the agreement, presenting a severe challenge to its structure and raising questions about whether it would weaken the commitments of other nations.”(3)>>"would be highly crippling to U.S. economic growth," While President Trump had promised to "cancel" the Paris deal to boost coal, the decision is not likely to create more jobs. The industry is in a long-term decline as it faces competition from cheaper natural gas and — increasingly — wind and solar. Some utilities are also responding to customer demand for renewable power, and the policies of any one administration have little impact on those decisions.