The United Nations Climate Action Summit kicked off with two\ncompletely different visions of the planet\u2019s future: Action by the Trump\nAdministration to kill California\u2019s clean car program and the worldwide Climate\nStrike inspired by teenage Swedish high schooler Greta Thunberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his all-too-typical and frightening behavior, the\nPresident has rejected science. His and\nhis Administration have taken steps to eliminate the power of the state of\nCalifornia to set its own more stringent vehicle emission standards. Thirteen other states, including New York,\nfollow the California standards. In\ntotal, roughly one-third of all cars sold in America are covered by these\nstandards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
California’s emissions standards are stricter than the\nfederal EPA requirements. They’re more\nstringent on hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions — which become\nsmog — from vehicles, and require that older construction vehicles be\nretrofitted to be less polluting. \nCalifornia’s gasoline also must have less sulfur, benzene and\nhydrocarbons than most gasoline sold elsewhere in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state has created a number of categories for motor\nvehicle emissions. Even if you don’t\nlive in California, if you have a relatively new car, you’ve likely seen\nstickers somewhere on the vehicle that reference the California standards: Cars\nwith stickers that say they are low emissions (LEV) or partial zero emission,\nor a zero emissions (usually a plug-in electrics).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Obama Administration had adopted regulations that mirror\nCalifornia\u2019s; the Trump Administration killed those and is now trying to\neliminate the power of the states to set stronger environmental standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a state like New York, transportation is the single\nlargest source of greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 the gases that are fueling global\nwarming. Unless those emissions are\nreduced \u2013 as California has taken steps to do \u2013 the climate crisis will get\nworse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the climate changes that result from global warming pose\nan existential threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As usual, the Trump Administration simply doesn\u2019t care about\nthe science or the suffering of billions of people that will result from its\ndeadly decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the states are fighting back and last week New York\nState Attorney General Letitia James signed on to a lawsuit spearheaded by\nCalifornia to block the Trump Administration\u2019s proposal to revoke the ruling\nthat allows for tougher emissions standards. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, millions of protesters worldwide \u2013 led by\nschool children on strike from classes \u2013 rallied to demand action on stopping\nthe unfolding climate catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And unfolding is the correct word. Hurricanes are stronger, sea levels are\nrising, glaciers are receding, surface water is evaporating, all as the planet\nhas been heating up. Experts have said\nthat unless the world keeps global warming to a rise of no more than 2.7\ndegrees Fahrenheit by the year 2030, it may be impossible to curb runaway\nclimate changes that could devastate the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The planet is already two-thirds of the way there; the\naverage worldwide climate temperature has risen nearly two degrees Fahrenheit,\nleaving little room for additional fossil fuel emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was the message of the children and their supporters;\nunless sweeping actions are taken right away, their futures could be hellish. Yet due to the negligence of the Trump Administration\nand others, renewable energy investments globally have dropped 14% this year\ncompared with 2018 and carbon emissions are rising at their fastest rate since\n2011, thanks to increased energy consumption led by China, India and the United\nStates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in New York, the Governor and the Legislature have\nagreed to a plan of action, but the plan has yet to be implemented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goals are far better than denials \u2013 or actions that make the\nsituation worse. Our nation\u2019s leaders\nneed to heed the children\u2019s clarion wake up call, and the rest of us need to fight\nhard to get them to act with urgency. The\ncrisis isn\u2019t looming, it’s here now. And\nif we don’t act, those children will face a world destroyed by our folly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United Nations Climate Action Summit kicked off with two completely different visions of the planet\u2019s future: Action by the Trump Administration to kill California\u2019s clean car program and the worldwide Climate Strike inspired by teenage Swedish high schooler Greta Thunberg. In his all-too-typical and frightening behavior, the President has rejected science. His and his […]<\/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-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","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=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}