Trump & Paris Agreement: Good after all?
I am an environmentalist and was outraged by yesterday´s news. Are you outraged of Trump withdrawing from the Paris agreement as well? Maybe its not that bad after all:
Since the Paris Agreement was never a mandatory contract of any sort the current administration would not have actively done anything to reach these goals of COP21 anyway. In fact Trump already proposed or made cuts to the EPA.
The Paris Agreement is symbolic, as important as that is, but it was never mandatory. The US withdrawing sends, in fact, an awful message out to the world. But remember whether he had withdrawn or not, he and his administration would not have done anything regarding climate change anyway, because they wouldn't have had to.
So maybe the fact he did, is actually not that bad, since governments around the world now are reassuring their commitment. They are pointing fingers which in return might leave them responsible to take action themselves? The hope is for the next administration to take this issue seriously and do a lot more than the Paris agreement actually asks for. But the republican senate would not have done anything anyways.
On another note: there is only so much a government can do to not piss their voters off, except, what it seems like, in the case of Trump. You as an individual have tremendous power over your personal footprint which is what at the end it´s boiling down to. If you decide to eat less meat, go vegetarian or vegan you will have tremendously decreased your green house gas footprint. Going vegan is the most effective and most impactful step an individual can take to save the planet on so many levels. E.g. rainforest destruction, bio diversity loss, water usage, land use, ocean dead zones, climate change and so much more. For example did you know that meat and dairy production produce more greenhouse gases than all planes, trucks and cars combined? Even if we switched to 100% renewable energy, the 2°C target would still be unrealisable, unless we significantly reduce our consumption of animal products.
Please watch "Cowspiracy" on Netflix to get informed of the enormity of this issue. If you dont know how to approach such a switch in diet, comment down below and ill help you out.
Since yesterday all the "good politicians" stood up united against bad and evil Trump... lol! Let's see if they do something genuine about climate change. Otherwise it's just bla bla
Let´s hope so. For some reason i doubt it :(
yep
Cutting meat consumption does have a massive impact on an individual's carbon footprint, it cannot be denied, but the difference in the contribution of individual vs industry is enormous. I know it's a nice to think, "We can all make a difference!" but really, the kind of shift we need demands effective industry regulation and oversight. The government is supposed to represent the people, and without regulation industry pollutes and enslaves as much as it wants. Unfortunately, this is what "the people" voted for - the unregulated race for profit. Cutting "red tape." Unadulterated capitalism. Pure greed. A disaster.
It is quite a mental leap to twist the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement as a 'good thing.' I think it's a meaningless thing, honestly. There have been many agreements made in the past, and no country has made efforts to meet targets anyway. It's just a first class ticket and fancy dinners for our overpaid politicians, wining and dining and making empty promises about a future they won't be involved in while they plan to collect enormous pensions and tell us all to tighten our belts.
I believe we crossed the point of no return for climate change quite a few years ago, and with the permafrost melt releasing unfathomable amounts of methane, we best channel our resources into preparing our infrastructure and agriculture for the deleterious effects of climate change that is now irreversible, instead of hoping that everyone stops eating McDonalds and pretending that any country gives a crap about climate change. All these agreements are cynical virtue signaling to their ecologically concerned voter base, not binding contracts.
Thanks for the input. Im a little more optimistic ;)
Yeah... I've got the depression =(