Talk won’t curb emissions

Is the Paris Accord better than nothing?

Climate scientist, James Hansen, believes the COP21 Accord constitutes a “fraud” because it merely provides promises and no actions for preventing global temperature increases of more than 3.6 degrees F. I agree that promises of this sort are meaningless.

What Mother Nature does in response to the impacts of mankind cannot be legislated by any committee just as that bill passed in North Carolina will not prevent sea level rises. What happens will be determined only by what we actually do in order to reduce CO2 emissions and no specific actions of that sort were set in motion in Paris. The implementation of a substantial carbon fee is what the world badly needs, but no such suggestion emerged. Until that happens, cheap fossil fuels will be available and used.

The Paris agreement might actually do more harm than good if it gives the general public the impression that this war is being won. This impression is nonsense, however. The only scorecard that matters – measurements of the background level of atmospheric CO2 – clearly shows that this war is being lost. There is little reason for celebration until we learn the difference between talking and doing.

Eric Grimsrud

Liberty Lake