Happy Earth Day
Today is Earth Day. This celebration has been going annually on since 1970.
The first Earth Day was originally celebrated on March 21, 1970, in San Francisco. It was the brainchild of John McConnell, a peace activist, and ecologist. But then the United Nations picked up the idea. The UN changed Earth Day in 1971 to the vernal equinox. The UN defined this as April 22.
Earth Day has become an international phenomenon. It has replaced May Day on the calendar of environmentalists around the world. I guess we can be thankful for small blessings. Since they no longer celebrate May Day in Russia with a military parade, about the only thing left for “May day” is a cry for help. Even the public school May poles of my youth are only a fading memory.
Back in 1971, there was great fear about a looming ice age. James Hansen, a scientist with NASA, had developed a computer program that he claimed could forecast long-term climate change. His program was used by a colleague, who discovered the looming ice age. The Washington Post ran this chilling July 9 headline: U.S. Scientist Sees New Ice Age Coming. Hansen did not object to this finding. The idea spread. This 1977 book told the story.
THE PARIS AGREEMENT
On April 20, 2016, this appeared in paragraph 2 of the Wikipedia entry for “Earth Day”:
On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement is scheduled to be signed by the United States, China, and some 120 other countries. This signing satisfies a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Today’s the day!
What is the “landmark Paris Agreement”? What kind of mark constitutes a landmark?
Inquiring minds want to know!
There is a treaty. What will the treaty bind its signers to?
Inquiring minds want to know!
So, I went to the Wikipedia entry for “Paris Agreement”. Here, I learned many things.
The Paris Agreement (French: L’accord de Paris) is an agreement within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. An agreement on the language of the draft treaty was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015, but has not entered into force.
The key word is “finance.” Follow the money.
The head of the Paris Conference, France’s foreign minister Laurent Fabius, said this “ambitious and balanced” plan is a “historic turning point” in the goal of reducing global warming.
Mr. Fabius is exactly the right person to announce this, for the Paris Agreement is the latest program in what has been called Fabian economics for over a century.
Let us continue. We learn this: “The aim of the convention is described in Article 2, ‘enhancing the implementation’ of the UNFCCC.”
“(a) Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change;(b) Increasing the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production;
(c) Making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.”
Again, pay attention to the phrase “finance flows.” Finance will indeed flow: from the private sector to the government sector. But this raises a question: “Which government or governments?” This has yet to be worked out.
We then are treated to a new word: stocktake.
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