In my December 2 commentary, “Paris Talks on Climate Change to Avert an Apocalypse? Hardly,” I likened pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions to pledges to fund disaster relief efforts.
I cited unfulfilled pledges made in Kyoto in 1997 and Copenhagen in 2009 to support the former; unfulfilled pledges made after the Haitian earthquake in 2010 to support the latter. The point being that such pledges invariably amount to little more than, well, hot air.
This is why I was so incredulous as I watched hundreds of politicians, scientists, and environmentalists congratulate each other for pledges made in Paris last week.
With the sudden bang of a gavel Saturday night, representatives of 195 nations reached a landmark accord that will, for the first time, commit nearly every country to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to help stave off the most drastic effects of climate change.
The deal, which was met with an eruption of cheers and ovations from thousands of delegates gathered from around the world, represents a historic breakthrough on an issue that has foiled decades of international efforts to address climate change.
(New York Times, December 12, 2015)
Except that the fine print in this deal contains many of the same loopholes that made the Kyoto and Copenhagen deals not worth the paper they were written on.
Frankly, I am dumbfounded by the willful suspension of disbelief that enabled so many intelligent people to hail yet another of these hollow deals. In truth, the word “cult” might explain it.
Again, I cited unassailable facts, as always, to support my cynicism. Yet I know many of you will dismiss my take on this Paris deal as lacking standing, politically and scientifically. Not to mention those who consider it heretical for an avowed environmentalist, like me, to pooh-pooh any deal to combat climate change.
Therefore, allow me to share James Hansen’s take. He’s the former NASA (rocket) scientist who is generally regarded as the “father of global awareness of climate change.” In other words, Hansen is to climate change as Oppenheimer is to atomic age.
Arguably, Hansen has greater standing to declaim on the import and impact of this Paris deal than any of the politicians, scientists, and environmentalists who negotiated it. Yet here is how he not only gave credence to my cynicism, but made it seem too benign:
It’s a fraud really, a fake. It’s just bullshit for them to say: ‘We’ll have a 2Cwarming target and then try to do a little better every five years.’
It’s just worthless words … no action, just promises.
(Guardian, December 12, 2015)
Enough said?
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