Following long negotiations, President Obama and Xi Jinping, President of China, agreed to a “historic” deal to protect the global climate, multiple sources?report.
Under that deal, the United States vows to cut CO2 to a level of 26-28% below the emissions in 2005 by 2025. In return, China promised to increase their use of energy sources to 20% by 2030. China and the United States are currently leading the world in greenhouse gas emissions.
The plan is expected to draw heavy criticism from a Republican Congress. While Republican lawmakers argue that the policies to be implemented by the Obama administration are likely to cost jobs and?hinder economic growth while claiming that climate change is not real, an Obama official noted that “[blocking these efforts]?is really the crusade of a narrow group of people who are politically motivated and have made this a cause celebre, but we [Democrats] believe we will be successful”.
And a mountain of evidence is not only suggesting, but proving that climate change is indeed very real and very dangerous. According to the evidence collected by NASA:
- The sea level rose at nearly double the rate of the last century.
- The overall global temperature continues to increase.
- Ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice is retreating.
- More and more extreme weather events are occurring.
Republicans have a history of denying climate change is real and putting us Americans and the globe at risk. Let us not forget this great ad for the 2012 election:
Denying climate change is easy. After all, changes from year to year are relatively minor, especially to those with little to no scientific knowledge in the field. The climate, however, is changing on a global level and for the long-term. Just because it snows where you are you can’t claim that the change is not happening overall. Scientists argue that climate change, while already affecting us today, will increase severely, causing droughts, floods, natural disasters, and unusable land.
We can only hope that Republicans in Congress will work with President Obama and Democrats to ensure that our generations to come can enjoy earth like we do today.
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edited by hl
