{"id":1986,"date":"2017-11-20T11:13:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T16:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2017-11-20T11:13:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T16:13:26","slug":"climate-change-failing-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/climate-change-failing-to-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Change: Failing to Act?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There can be no doubt that the planet is warming; 2016 was the fifth time in the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century a new record high annual temperature has been set (along with 2005, 2010, 2014, and 2015) and also marks the 40th<\/sup>\u00a0consecutive year (since 1977) that the annual temperature has been above the 20th<\/sup>\u00a0century average. \u00a0To date, all 16 years of the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century rank among the seventeen warmest on record (1998 is currently the eighth warmest). \u00a0The five warmest years have all occurred since 2010.<\/p>\n

Of course, you wouldn\u2019t know that from the environmentally catastrophic policies of the Trump Administration and its allies in Congress.\u00a0 The Trump Administration has been busy rolling back the already inadequate programs of the former Obama Administration and advancing measures to stimulate the use of coal in energy production \u2013 arguably the worst fossil fuel in terms of heating the planet.<\/p>\n

Despite the stunningly dangerous policies of the Trump Administration, the world has long known of the dangers posed by the burning of oil, gas and coal.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years ago, more than 1700 independent scientists, including the majority of living Nobel laureates in the sciences, issued the \u201cWorld Scientists\u2019 Warning to Humanity.\u201d The Warning urged that the world must take measures to curtail environmental destruction and cautioned that \u201ca great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

This month on the twenty-fifth anniversary of that call, scientists looked back to evaluate the world\u2019s responses.\u00a0 What they found, though not surprising, was disturbing: since 1992, with the exception of stabilizing the stratospheric ozone layer, the world has failed to make sufficient progress in solving the environmental challenges and, in fact, most of them are getting far worse.<\/p>\n

Their review specifically identified the rapidly increasing threat of catastrophic climate change resulting from the rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and agricultural production.<\/p>\n

That warning was released just as the 23rd conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) was meeting in Bonn, Germany.\u00a0 The Convention was meeting to take steps to implement the 2015 Paris agreement and to set the stage for next year\u2019s draft rules to fully implement the Paris agreement.<\/p>\n

Under the Paris agreement, nearly 200 nations submitted individual pledges to curb their greenhouse-gas emissions.\u00a0 Under the agreement, nations vowed to limit the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution to \u201cwell below\u201d 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s meeting, the goal was to develop rules to verify whether the nations are actually reducing emissions consistent with the goals of the agreement.\u00a0 Reportedly, the negotiators made progress toward that goal and the rules are supposed to be in place in time for next year\u2019s climate conference in Katowice, Poland.<\/p>\n

Those measurements are critical.\u00a0 Goals that reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are supposed to hit goals for the year 2030, for example, need to have established, measureable annual mileposts in order to know whether environmental policies will be met and nations are meeting their pledge goals.<\/p>\n

Given the Trump Administration\u2019s callous disregard for the suffering that is, and will be, from climate changes, states have argued that they will follow the Paris accord.\u00a0 New York to its credit is one of those states.<\/p>\n

And the Cuomo Administration has set aggressive goals to meet the Paris Agreement:<\/p>\n