The Dark Shadow Shrine

embrace the darkness; that you may see the light nestled within it......

Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Doubts over US' stance dog key UN climate talks

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Climatic talks to save Mother Nature have always been dogged by problems, starting from the infamous Kyoto Protocol to the Copenhagen Summit, etc. The recent Paris Agreement is seen as a turning point as the agreement is legally-binding, unlike the earlier ones where nations pay lip service to terms arrived at. Some background on the Paris Agreement from the article:

"The Paris deal was sealed at the 21st Conference of Parties in the French capital in December 2015, after years of haggling.
A diplomatic push led by Mr Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping saw 195 countries and the European Union - 196 parties in total - agree to the deal. Palestine has since also joined the agreement.
It sets the goal of limiting average global warming to 2 deg C over pre-Industrial Revolution levels - and 1.5 deg C if possible. This will be done by curbing greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, coal and gas - an objective to which countries have pledged voluntary, nationally determined "contributions".

Note how the lack of political will or how political agendas threaten to hijack the deal....Donald Trump rose to power by promising to scrap the deal, which has been hugely unpopular in the US as it affects economic growth, esp the coal and oil industry....

Climate talks like this represent how human actions/activity can help protect Mother Nature....cutting of carbon emissions can mitigate global warming, which has been blamed for intensifying the frequency and scale of natural disasters like typhoons and flooding....


Qn: Assess the view that most natural disasters are the result of human activity. (Cam. 2016)