{"id":1577,"date":"2015-12-22T13:12:57","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T18:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2015-12-22T18:41:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T23:41:18","slug":"new-york-needs-to-lead-on-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/new-york-needs-to-lead-on-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW YORK NEEDS TO LEAD ON CLIMATE CHANGE"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\n#boxMenu\n{\n    BORDER-BOTTOM: #9ab4c1 1px solid;\n    BORDER-LEFT: #9ab4c1 1px solid;\n    PADDING-BOTTOM: 3px;\n    LINE-HEIGHT: 15px;\n    BACKGROUND-COLOR: #d5dde2;\n    MARGIN: 5px 5px 5px 6px;\n    PADDING-LEFT: 9px;\n    WIDTH: 50%;\n    PADDING-RIGHT: 0px;\n    FLOAT: right;\n    FONT-SIZE: 11px;\n    BORDER-TOP: #9ab4c1 1px solid;\n    BORDER-RIGHT: #9ab4c1 1px solid;\n    PADDING-TOP: 6px\n}\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"boxMenu\">\n<h2><center><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/donate\/2015\">Donate to NYPIRG today! Help fight climate change!<\/a><\/center><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a year of<em> much<\/em> bad news \u2013 both in New York and across the world \u2013 something positive has happened.\u00a0 In Paris, France 195 countries met to hammer out an agreement to commit to curbing global warming.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement adopted a target for limiting global warming <em>to<\/em> below 2 degrees Celsius. If that were to be achieved, it would likely ward off some of the most severe effects of climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Proponents argue that this agreement sends a clear message that much of the world\u2019s coal, oil and gas reserves must stay in the ground. The agreement allows that at least some fossil fuels can continue to burn, as long as a larger number of \u201cgreenhouse sinks,\u201d like new forests, absorbs the greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement requires nations every five years to review how well they are on target for the emission reductions. Also every five years, starting in 2018, the United Nations will \u201ctake stock\u201d of the pledges to see how much progress has been made in curbing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the increase in the temperature of the planet.<\/p>\n<p>But the agreement is <em>voluntary<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Here in the U.S., the agreement makes it difficult for Congressional opponents to derail the deal \u2013 for example, the Administration argues that since the agreement is voluntary, it does not bind the United States to a course of action.\u00a0 In addition, since the Paris accord is tied to a previous agreement (approved during the Bush 1 Administration), the Obama Administration argues that they have the authority to carry out climate\u00a0commitments without going to the Congress for approval.<\/p>\n<p>But Congressional opposition continues to exist.\u00a0 Powerful members of Congress not only oppose the agreement, some don\u2019t even believe the science documenting that global warming is occurring largely as the result of human activities.<\/p>\n<p>While the Obama Administration has done all it can to keep the agreement in force, the Congressional opposition \u2013 and disbelief in scientific fact \u2013 could undermine the Paris accord.<\/p>\n<p>Given that the deal is voluntary, a new President who does not believe in the science of climate change could work to undermine the agreement. \u00a0If he or she succeeded, the limited progress achieved under the Paris agreement could be weakened.<\/p>\n<p>And the world cannot afford a weaker agreement.<\/p>\n<p>With nearly every nation having now promised to gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions,much of the burden for keeping those promises shifts back to the countries to take the steps needed to deliver on their pledges.<\/p>\n<p>While national actions are important in the U.S., the ongoing Congressional opposition makes it important for state actions to help build support for policies that boost reliance on alternative energy sources and which seek to reduce the use of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>New York State must be such a leader.<\/p>\n<p>New York is developing a plan to make its energy grid \u201csmarter.\u201d Under the current utility structure, the power sector in New York is on track to spend an estimated $30 billion to replace and modernize the state\u2019s aging energy infrastructure over the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>The Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) initiative recognizes that the existing energy model is unsustainable and that the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and the long term environmental and public health degradation caused by continued reliance on antiquated technology requires a wholesale transformation of the state\u2019s energy systems.\u00a0 REV offers a unique opportunity for New York State to create a new, national model for generating, distributing and using energy while reducing the emissions that fuel global climate change.<\/p>\n<p>The Paris accord is on the books.\u00a0 Now is the time for action \u2013 and New York\u2019s REV process could offer the nation a way toward a more efficient and greener energy future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donate to NYPIRG today! Help fight climate change! &nbsp; In a year of much bad news \u2013 both in New York and across the world \u2013 something positive has happened.\u00a0 In Paris, France 195 countries met to hammer out an agreement to commit to curbing global warming. The agreement adopted a target for limiting global [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1601,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions\/1601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}