The Trump Cocktail Party to Decide on the Paris Agreement
Imagine a country club cocktail party with fellow billionaires who are politicians, oil billionaires, real estate barons, clothing designers, personal and tax lawyers, a governor of an oil state, an optical physicist who thinks more CO2 is good, and the CEO of the leading alt-right website. The topic of climate science and clean energy comes up. No climate scientists or clean energy suppliers could afford the price of political or monetary admission to this club.
They are discussing the Paris Climate Agreement with the owner of the club, who invited them, and who can kick them out of the club in an instant, without reimbursing their membership fee. The owner has also drawn worldwide attention by claiming for years, without evidence, that climate change is a Chinese hoax, as suggested in an article in the alt-right website.
The club owner then tells them that the result of their discussion will determine the US decision whether to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement or not. The owner is distracted any time someone in the distance mentions the word “Russia”. The opponents of climate change recite about 200 one-liners which supposedly disprove the entire science and scientists of climate change. They have heard these at similar cocktail parties, with similar guests. There should be a science advisor there, who heads 45 scientists in the White House Office of Science and Technology, but none have been appointed in four months. (The most advanced scientific country in the world, ever, is being run with NO science advisors.)
Surprisingly, the ex-head of the largest oil company and the leader of foreign relations and oil agreements, wants to stay in the Paris accord. Also, the owners daughter and son-in-law want to stay in. The secretary of the department of energy, the ex oil governor, is also surprising in favor of the Paris Accord.
The fact that all 200 country signers to the Paris Accord, and all world Academies of Science back the Accord, seem to not have been well considered.
While 65% of the American public believe in climate change, they are being distracted today by a midnight mis-tweet about fake news by the owner (#covfefe).
Despite the fact that only 2% of voters said that the climate was an important issue, the alt-right guy told the owner, who follows no-body’s precedents, that he must stick to this least important promise to his electors, despite the consequences of the decision.
Nicaragua did not sign the Paris Accord because the Accord was not strong enough to halt global warming. I guarantee that the other non-signer, Syria, is consuming a lot less energy now than it did in 2005.
I argued a few posts previously, that the US would probably meet our Paris reduction goal by the continuing economic switch to natural gas, actions by the Blue States, and technical advances in autos, and I add now, by replacing business travel by modern communications.
While it takes four years to totally diplomatically withdraw from the agreement, the damage is already being done by the 2018 budget cutting most climate science and clean energy plans. The firings will take years to replace under a more caring administration.
