G.O.A.T. of the week – JOHN PODESTA TO TAKE OVER FOR JOHN KERRY AS TOP INTERNATIONAL ADVISOR ON CLIMATE CHANGE (THE WASHINGTON POST)

This is political because, without a planet to sustain life, we cease to exist. We cannot hope, we cannot aim, we cannot change. We cease to be and without humans, there would be no governance. The animal kingdom (those that survive) and the Earth would be a-okay and keep continuing for millennia. They will forget that we were here; this concerns all of humanity. It does not matter what culture or political ideology you have or the borders you draw in your mind – all of those are illusions compared to the bigger picture of life on Planet Earth.  

(Mother Earth in All Her Glory: source: LiveScience)

Did you know that the first World Climate Conference began in 1979 (Childress)? This was the first time that scientists from all over the world came together to propose that humans have had a substantial impact on climate change. It was not until 1997 that the Kyoto Protocol was proposed by thirty-seven industrialized countries to make a pact to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It took another few years before it was finally ratified in 2005, without the two biggest producers of emissions at that time, being Russia and America (Linden). Because of the role that industrialization has played in our global society over the past two hundred years, the early aughts of the 2000s seem like a way overdue Band-aid to an already bleeding wound. Moreover, it took 33 years before the United States FINALLY joined any semblance of climate responsibility with the Paris Agreement in 2012 under President Barack Obama (“President Obama: The United States Formally Enters the Paris Agreement”). Trump took us out and then Biden put us right back in. In actuality, we have only really been responsibly participating in an active capacity on the global climate forum for 9 years! NINE YEARS?! Isn’t that crazy? Especially when we look at the annual data surrounding how much the United States is responsible for. 

(Climate Change and Global Health: source: University of Pennsylvania)

Consider this: A New York Times article stated that “the United States is responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in history” (Sengupta). Now, to be fair, it is not just us. It is every country that prioritizes wealth and greed over being proper stewards of their environments. If that concerns you, I implore you to vote with your dollars! Unless Elon Musk figures out a way to launch humanity beyond the stars, there is no way to survive without our planet. We should take this seriously. Do we, as a species, want to survive? Should we even be allowed to? Have we done too much damage? Is it too late to reverse course? Those are all hypothetical questions that I will leave you, the audience, to think about and decide for yourselves. 

(Apocalypse Earth vs. Healthy Earth: Source: ITU)

"People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. HOW DARE YOU!" - Greta Thunberg

An NBC article made the news last week saying that “researchers at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that Americans are more worried about climate change now than they were in 2010, and support for renewable energy has also grown over time” (MSN). With people’s focus more on the natural disasters increasing in severity due to human-caused climate change, and experiencing it for themselves, this issue is part of the national conversation going into the 2024 Presidential elections.  

(Sustainable Power: source: Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Food for thought: As stated on the White House’s national website and fact sheet, “since President Biden took office, companies have invested $85 billion in manufacturing of electric vehicles, batteries, and EV chargers in the United States; with the number of EV vehicles sold tripling since he became President” (House). This is hopeful! More than ever, Americans are having a preponderance toward actively making decisions with their carbon footprints in mind. Trump, on the other hand, has been an active voice in his denial of climate science, referring to it as a “hoax” (Joyella). With Nikki Haley, keeping her proverbial hat in the political ring, she has remarked that she believes climate change is real, while also touting her participation in removing the United States from the Paris Agreement in 2020 under the Trump administration (MSN). If that troubles you in the slightest, I encourage you to vote!  

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." - His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

Since John Kerry made a statement in mid – January that he would be stepping down from his role as climate advisor to help with Biden’s re-election campaign, it was announced yesterday (Thursday) that John Podesta would be taking over the position (MSN). The very fact that we have an administration who is deeply devoted toward making continual changes with our survival as a species in mind, and our very lives at stake, is a continual step forward in the right direction. THIS IS GREAT NEWS! Hope for the hearts of humanity! 

This article was first published by The Washington Post but subsequently picked up by Reuters, NBC news, AP press, The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and Bloomberg.  

As a final note, if you want to learn more about your responsibility as a citizen with your carbon footprint, I recommend this website, which will help you calculate it to understand better: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en

Sources: 

Childress, Sarah. “Timeline: The Politics of Climate Change.” FRONTLINE, 24 Oct. 2012, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/timeline-the-politics-of-climate-change. 

House, White. “FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Economic Plan Drives America’s Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Boom.” The White House, 15 Sept. 2022, www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/14/fact-sheet-president-bidens-economic-plan-drives-americas-electric-vehicle-manufacturing-boom. 

How Many Planets Does It Take to Sustain Your Lifestyle? www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en. 

Joyella, Mark. “On Fox, Donald Trump Calls Climate Change a ‘Hoax’: ‘In the 1920’s They Were Talking About Global Freezing.’” Forbes, 21 Mar. 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2022/03/21/on-fox-donald-trump-calls-climate-change-a-hoax-in-the-1920s-they-were-talking-about-global-freezing/?sh=3a688c4a3787. 

Linden, Eugene. “Climate Change Became Politicized in the 1990s. It Didn’t Have to Be That Way.” TIME, 22 Apr. 2022, time.com/6169294/climate-change-politicized-in-1990s. 

MSN. www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/more-americans-than-ever-before-believe-climate-change-is-really-happening/ar-BB1hfROV. 

“President Obama: The United States Formally Enters the Paris Agreement.” whitehouse.gov, 3 Sept. 2016, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/09/03/president-Obama-United-states-formally-enters-Paris-agreement. 

Santos, By Sofia Ferreira. “Amazon Rainforest: Deforestation Rate Halved in 2023.” BBC News, 12 Jan. 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67962297. 

Sengupta, Somini. “The U.S. Has Made Big Climate Promises. Where’s the Money?” The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/climate/united-states-climate-pledges.html.

 

 Image Sources: 

“Climate Change.” ITU, www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/backgrounders/Pages/climate-change.aspx. 

Climate Change and Global Health Research at Pitt | Climate and Global Change Center | University of Pittsburgh. www.climatecenter.pitt.edu/news/climate-change-and-global-health-research-pitt. 

“New Research for the Future of Sustainable Power and Energy.” Electrical and Computer Engineering, ece.engin.umich.edu/stories/new-research-for-the-future-of-sustainable-power-and-energy. 

Pappas, Stephanie. “Planet Earth Wobbles as It Spins, and Now Scientists Know Why.” livescience.com, 24 Sept. 2018, www.livescience.com/63655-why-earth-wobbles.html.