hot as hell

POTUS has officially entered the United States into the race to the bottom. Of the 195 member countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) who had signed the Paris Agreement to mitigate and finance greenhouse gas emissions issues by 2020, 148 member countries have ratified it.

As documented by the Environmental Protection Agency on its website, as of 2014, the United States was one of the top 4 countries emitting carbon dioxide gases, contributing approximately 15% of the carbon footprint (second to China at 30%) with the top 4 totaling over 55%. Despite pleas from CEOs from Fortune 100, including energy and tech giants, in the harm to the environment as well as creation of jobs from investment in clean technology/innovation, POTUS claims that his decision was to preserve jobs, contradicting his numerous budget cuts and diversion of funds that have continued to cut other jobs.

 

No longer viewed as a leader in the world economy, POTUS has swiftly categorized the United States in the pits with Syria and Nicaragua, the only other countries not signing the agreement. Both countries combined have less than 0.25% of the world's carbon footprint. Syria has been embroiled in a civil war for last few years, while Nicaragua felt as if the deal did not go far enough with no repercussions for countries who did not meet commitments; insufficiency of the goal of limiting global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, and imbalance of accountability for larger countries like United States.

"We do not want to be accomplices to the death, damages and destruction that a 3C or 4C [warmer] world will represent. It's not a matter of being trouble makers. It's a matter of the developing countries surviving. Four degrees is not a survival track in the Sahel with the Sahara advancing. Four degrees is not a survival track for India or Pakistan with the glaciers melting in the Himalayas. Four degrees is not a survival track for Southeast Asia with the typhoons.

[The idea of] universal responsibility - [that] everyone is responsible - is a spin on historical responsibility, because everyone didn't create this problem. Nicaragua has 4.8 million tons of emissions a year, and that's 0.03% of [global] emissions. Do we feel responsible for having caused climate change? No, not at all. Are we doing something about it? Yes, we've gone from 25% renewable to 52% renewable since 2007, and in 2020 we'll be 90% renewable."

~ Paul Oquist, Nicaragua's representative at 2015 talks in Paris 

However, as in pussy riots and the girl with the dragon tattoo, his actions have incited action in others as many companies came out with stronger commitments to protect the environment. CEOs of Tesla (Elon Musk) and Disney (Bob Iger) stood firm in their threats to resign from various advisory councils for the White House. Mayors from 68 U.S. cities, including Pittsburgh, which POTUS cited when pulling out, and Houston, home of many oil and energy conglomerates, committed to and adopted the Paris accord. Exxon shareholders followed the lead of environmental activists and overwhelmingly voted for more disclosures on impact of climate change, thus forcing the company to address the business risk in the eventual decline in demand for fossil fuels.

Michael Bloomberg launched a coalition (United States Climate Alliance), which includes American cities, states, universities and companies, to negotiate with the United Nations to form its own National Determined Contribution (NDC) and has personally donated $15 million to UNFCCC.

"Americans will honor and fulfill the Paris Agreement by leading from the bottom up - and there isn't anything Washington can do to stop us."

~ Michael Bloomberg 

It is for reasons like this that I stand by my write-in votes for Bloomberg as POTUS and Elizabeth Warren as his second in command. Luckily, it will take four years to completely withdraw, and Americans will have another opportunity to choose which side of history they want to be on.