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24 DAYS UNTIL JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE
Bob Berwyn at Inside Climate News writes—Five Years After Paris, Where Are We Now? Facing Urgent Choices. Climate experts point to some signs of hope, but add: ‘That is not nearly enough’:
[...] Five years ago, as negotiations for the Paris climate agreement ran into overtime, lights on the Eiffel Tower cut through the fog, signaling the urgency of reaching an accord: No Plan B, they cautioned.
Five years later, the global pact, signed by 197 countries, is still the only plan on the table, barring a wholesale move to another planet. It formally recognizes the serious threat of global warming and identifies solutions to prevent the worst-case outcome by capping warming at close to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
That would require decarbonizing global energy, transportation and food systems by 2050, a monumental challenge. But the agreement is more than just a nuts and bolts instruction manual. At its best, it’s a broad social contract for change, with a transformative vision for a healthier and more just future global society, where everybody wins. It’s also become a rallying point for people seeking climate justice in various courts or petitioning their governments for climate action.
Yet five years after the Paris pact was signed, the heady wine of global climate collaboration has been soured by rogue nations backsliding, and in the case of the United States, even withdrawing from the agreement. And effective climate action has been hampered by continued fossil fuel propaganda and attacks on science and facts, as well as by related economic policies like fossil fuel subsidies. Not least, a deadly global pandemic has stalled global climate talks.
At the same time, the urgency to implement the deal has grown, as the impacts of global warming have become more evident and more severe. In the five years since the agreement was signed, humans have emitted another 200 gigatons of greenhouse gases. The five hottest years on record have all occurred since 2015, and dozens of studies have shown clear links between warming and deadly climate extremes. [...]
THREE OTHER ARTICLES WORTH READING
“The diplomats have done their job: the Paris Agreement points the world in the right direction, and with sophistication and clarity. It does not, however, ensure implementation, which necessarily remains the domain of politicians, businessmen, scientists, engineers, and civil society.”
~~ Jeffrey Sachs, “Let’s hail the Paris Agreement and get to work,” Dec. 12, 2015
BLAST FROM THE PAST (Proving tonight that plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose)
At Daily Kos on this date in 2002—800,000 jobless workers to lose benefits:
800,000 jobless workers to lose benefits:
As many as 800,000 jobless Americans will lose their federal unemployment benefits Saturday, when a federal program that extended their benefits expires.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!, say the good Christians at the White House:
Daschle nails this one:
The House Republican leadership turned their backs on these families and refused to act, and the (Bush) administration chose not to intervene. This inaction by Republicans was unconscionable then, and it is even more so now.
So how does the GOP respond to Daschle's dead on criticism?
The White House and Republican leaders had no immediate response to the statement.
Ho ho ho!