On June 2, 2017 President of the United States Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change. The world media, and most of the political class, have reacted with shock, outrage, and predictions of doom and gloom. The conventional wisdom is that the world needs this agreement in order to save the planet from an ecological disaster. It should be noted, very few people have chosen to read the actual text of the Paris Agreement. In this article I have chosen to use the actual text of the treaty, instead of trusting the opinions of the uninformed.
There are many that remain skeptical about the whole thing, and some of those skeptics have impressive qualifications. Many scientists and political leaders have refuted the various environmental agreements as being a scam. This raises several questions, questions that need accurate answers. What is the Paris agreement all about? What is its intended purpose? How is it connected to the Kyoto Accords? Why are the Elite so eager to impose this agreement on nations around the world? Why is the greater part of the agreement concerned with finance and global monetary transfers?
Basic Environmental Goals
There are several questions that everyone should ask when reading the above paragraph. First and foremost, the Earth had experienced a "Little Ice Age" between the years circa 1250-1850. This Ice Age would have ended just as the Industrial Revolution was getting started. Using a bit of common sense, it would seem the Paris Agreement wishes to plunge the world back into an Ice Age.
A working group of the Third Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an agency of the United Nations, has published an extensive report for policy makers. This report is rather biased in that it attempts to downplay the naturally occurring phenomenon that affected climate change in the past and continue to do so in the present. Instead, the authors attempt to make their politically motivated theories "fit the facts" by focusing on human activities. This report, and others like it, are used by politicians to make policy decisions that will affect the planet. Perhaps the information in that report should have been presented in a more unbiased fashion so that policy makers can make better informed decisions.
Nationally Determined Goals
According to the Paris Agreement, and in keeping with the Kyoto Treaty, each nation affiliated with the climate accords must determine how they will contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions(Lines 22-31). There is no set value, nor any sort of standard, each nation can use whichever criteria they choose. This has led many to question the validity of agreements in which major polluters, such as China, can avoid responsibility.
The Paris Agreement calls for a collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries; (Line 54). In other words, the Paris Agreement would create a new class of "Super Welfare". This new welfare would be on a global scale, and the recipients would be any nation that is classified as developing. Many voices have been raised protesting this figure, saying it is not enough to support the needs of developing nations in their attempts to reach their Nationally Determined Goals. Some estimate that developing nations will require much more than $500 billion a year, by the year 2050. Taken to it's logical conclusion, this system of welfare would create a vast money pit in which trillions of dollars would eventually disappear. The only beneficiaries would be the leaders of underdeveloped "Third World" nations that would siphon off billions of dollars into their own private bank accounts, while their nations and peoples continue to be underdeveloped and poor. Regardless of how much money is made available, a society must have the ability and willingness to put forth the necessary effort in order to achieve whatever goals have been set for them. Unfortunately, in many countries around the world environmental issues are of little importance to people that must struggle to find food, water, and the basic necessities of life.
Financial Manipulation
The biggest area of contention is the requirement that developed nations be subject to financial penalties if they miss their goals, and they must provide financial support to developing nations; regardless if those developing nations are major polluters. Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Treaty for this exact reason, and the US refused to ratify the Kyoto Treaty for the same reason.The Paris Agreement calls for a collective quantified goal from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries; (Line 54). In other words, the Paris Agreement would create a new class of "Super Welfare". This new welfare would be on a global scale, and the recipients would be any nation that is classified as developing. Many voices have been raised protesting this figure, saying it is not enough to support the needs of developing nations in their attempts to reach their Nationally Determined Goals. Some estimate that developing nations will require much more than $500 billion a year, by the year 2050. Taken to it's logical conclusion, this system of welfare would create a vast money pit in which trillions of dollars would eventually disappear. The only beneficiaries would be the leaders of underdeveloped "Third World" nations that would siphon off billions of dollars into their own private bank accounts, while their nations and peoples continue to be underdeveloped and poor. Regardless of how much money is made available, a society must have the ability and willingness to put forth the necessary effort in order to achieve whatever goals have been set for them. Unfortunately, in many countries around the world environmental issues are of little importance to people that must struggle to find food, water, and the basic necessities of life.
An Inescapable Conclusion
For the record, I support any legitimate effort to ensure a clean environment; however, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is not legitimate. It is a scam. It sets no rules, no standards, and no real goals. It's only apparent purpose is to transfer money from "rich" countries to "poor" countries. Trump was correct in rejecting the Paris Agreement, it may be the smartest thing he'll do all year.
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/the-paris-climate-deal-was-a-fraud-and-a-sham-until-trump-decided-to-ditch-it/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change-withdrawal-latest-news-updates-global-warming-deal-a7768116.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
https://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/earth/canada-leaving-kyoto-protocol-on-climate-change.html
http://www.heritage.org/environment/report/why-president-bush-right-abandon-the-kyoto-protocol
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/paris-climate-agreement-report-oxfam-a7030446.html