Ariel Ulrich, Blog Post #4

Climate Change and the Paris Agreement

        This past summer I was walking with friends around New York City and I remember we were in a small park-like area of the city, I am not certain where, and I looked up at one of the imposing buildings looming overhead and saw a clock that was counting down. At that point in time I think the clock read something like 6 years, 107 days, and some hours:minutes:seconds. I remember being slightly confused on what the clock was counting down to, until later I researched it and found out it was known as the Climate Clock. It was made possible by scientists, artists, educators, and activists across the world to remind everyone walking past just how much longer we have until it is too late to fix the damage we have done to our planet and climate change becomes irreversible. Not all hope is lost yet, however. In December of 2015, 192 countries and the European Union joined the Paris Agreement to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses and prevent the global average temperature from rising 2° Celsius above pre industrial levels. But will this be enough? If we continue heading the direction we are and do not strive to do better, the results will be catastrophic. 

Since the late 1980s, the world’s countries have started becoming more environmentally focused and have begun to recognize the problems industrialization has caused. They started with the Montreal Protocol to reduce the damage that had been caused to the Ozone layer and that was such a success, that the world’s countries thought to try to strive for something bigger. They created the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change, but it failed miserably. There were many reasons for this including lack of easy fixes and the US pulling out and countries not being able to see eye to eye on who was really responsible. Luckily, this did not stop everyone from wanting to try again. In 2009, the world’s countries met again and formed the Copenhagen Agreement. This was essentially an acknowledgement of climate change existing and the consensus that something should be done about it. Yet, it also failed because it lacked the plans on what and how that something should be done. So then in 2015, the world’s leaders met up for the third time to try and fix the issue and they unanimously settled on the Paris Agreement. However, this ground work should only be looked at as a beginning and there is  much more to be done. 

The Paris Agreement has a goal that recognizes that we have to keep the average global temperature from reaching 2° Celsius above where it was before industrialization or, even better, to keep that number below 1.5°C. It also has a goal for the global amount of greenhouse gasses emitted to equal the amount being removed from the atmosphere, also known as becoming carbon neutral. If the first part of these goals are not met, there will be dire consequences. Earth would face severe heat waves, droughts and floods. The seas would also rise and become more acidic and 90% of coral reefs would be lost. Additionally, the arctic ice would thaw out and species around the world could face extinction. The Paris Agreement proposed a five year annual check in to look over each county's Nationally Determined Contributions and its progress. The problem with this is that each country is free to set its own targets and there are no enforcement mechanisms to ensure that each country meets its own or the Paris Agreement standards and goals. Fortunately, unlike its predecessors, the Paris Agreement does actually appear to be working and countries have been cutting emissions. But unfortunately, it is not enough. The Paris agreement was designed as a means and not an end. It provides the context for a country’s actions but not the actions itself. “It [only] provides the infrastructure to do more: to do better.”(Hoffmann, 2022) 

The average global temperature has already reached approximately 1.1°C above pre industrial levels and we will reach 1.5°C in the next two decades if we remain as we are. Some activists have suggested bringing about changes on a smaller scope than focusing on countries as a whole. They have called upon cities, NGOs, international companies and organizations to change the way they operate and institute change at these smaller parts of the greater whole. Over 600 local governments in the United States alone have responded by creating and implementing climate change action plans and investors have started placing their money into more environmentally conscious areas. Additionally, company giants such as Amazon and Starbucks have made big commitments to become carbon neutral or even carbon negative. Though many critics of this argue that this is only these companies greenwashing themselves so they appear eco-conscious and draw in more business. These plans are all well and good, but these suggested smaller changes still pale in comparison to what could result from a country implementing strict climate policies. 

Other suggestions, more geared towards the bigger whole, include having a world wide Climate Club for countries that could hold them accountable for not meeting obligations or not joining. States could also institute new treaties with one another that include applying limitations to the amount of emissions accepted or sectors to compliment the Paris Agreement. But these solutions are always  much easier to just sit around and discuss than to take action on. 

As I write this essay, the Climate Change clock stands at 7 years 93 days 22 hours 1 minute and 5 seconds. Yes, we have been able to buy back some time since I saw the clock in person, but it is still not enough. Our current climate change prevention plans are not ambitious enough and we do not have enough time for us to flit around like we have been. Action needs to be taken now; this problem needs to be fixed now. Over the last 150 years, through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, we have been slowly killing our planet. This is it. There is no Planet B, despite Elon Musk’s plans to colonize Mars. This is an issue that is and will continue to affect us all and without rigorous reform and action, we are all screwed. 

References

(2020, September). Climate Clock. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://climateclock.world/

Figueres, C., & TED. (2016, May 11). The inside story of the Paris climate agreement. YouTube. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIA_1xQc7x8

Hoffmann, M. (2022, January 6). The Paris Agreement is working as intended, but we've still got a long way to go. The Conversation. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/the-paris-agreement-is-working-as-intended-but-weve-still-got-a-long-way-to-go-173478

Maizland, L., & Hill, A. C. (2021, November 17). Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/paris-global-climate-change-agreements

The Paris Agreement | United Nations. (n.d.). the United Nations. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/paris-agreement

UN Climate Change. (2020, September 24). Ever wondered: What is the 'Paris Agreement', and how does it work? YouTube. Retrieved April, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiGD0OgK2ug