Here are the most important details: The hottest 6 years in recorded history have been the past six years. 2019 had the hottest recorded ocean temperatures ever. The icecaps are melting and polar bears are starving to death. 97% of all climate scientists agree that the issue is critical. Your own standard of what constitutes good science and reputable research (largescale studies published in major reputable peer-reviewed publications) indicates that we’re in deep doo-doo.
We aren’t doing more because the interests with the biggest lobbying pockets (like oil companies) don’t want to miss out on giving their investors a good quarter and that is mostly true around the world, although doubly so here. Where I live electric cars and solar energy are disincentivized because they step on the toes of the status quo who don’t want to have to evolve because that eats into their profits in the short term.
The US pulled out of the Paris Agreement as soon as Trump got elected. It was one of his first acts as President, because it’s more important to him to fatten his pockets and that of his cronies than it is to not kill his grandchildren. We are the only country on earth where not believing in global warming is a main aspect of a major political party.
Here are some of the things that the Paris Agreement countries are working on:
“The report includes four regional assessments and came to fruition through the efforts of more than 550 scientists in over 100 nations. Proposed solutions include protecting and restoring ecosystems (which can store more carbon), cleaning up energy sources (fewer greenhouse gas emissions), and practicing more sustainable and diverse agriculture (lowering emissions, storing carbon). These solutions align neatly with sectors of interest for The Climate Trust’s work, but even so, some of the stark statistics put forth in the data served as a startling reminder (i.e. >95% of North American tall grass prairie grasslands have been transformed into human-dominated landscapes since pre-European settlement, and approximately 1.5 million hectares of Great Plains grassland hectares were lost from 2014–2015).
As one of the developers of the Avoided Conversion of Grassland and Shrubland to Crop Production methodology (ACoGS), The Climate Trust considers ourselves grassland conservation experts. We are now putting that expertise to good use, investing in projects that preserve critical native grassland through agricultural conservation easements; ensuring the grassland will remain intact in perpetuity.
This report helps to demonstrate that many of the environmental and climate challenges we face today are interconnected. We cannot possibly meet our Paris climate goals without considering the whole of what it is we’re tackling. Much like climate change, biodiversity challenges recognize no geographic or national boundaries. This points to the need for more attention on biodiversity in policymaking in order to make a positive impact on the health and diversity of our natural environment.”
When President Kennedy said we were going to the moon in 10 years, we didn’t have the foggiest idea how to make that happen, but we eventually figured it out because we made it of national importance and backed it with resources necessary to support that. Until this country and the rest of the world does the same, the oceans will continue to heat and polar bears will near extinction, and weather patterns will continue to get more extreme. You don’t need to be a climate scientist to read the signs or to be concerned. If you’re not, OK, but the reasoning you’ve given is pretty thin.
The above link focuses on actions and impact.
