I/II. [(I)t’s unlikely Trump has considered any of the science involved in the Paris agreement -- he has virtually no one in his White House advising him on scientific issues. Instead, it appears that Steve Bannon, White House counsel Don McGahn, and climate denier EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — who all favor leaving the agreement — are influencing his position with nationalist ideology and fossil fuel industry allegiances. But it’s still remarkable that Trump has not appointed someone to run the White House Office of Science and Technology (a person who traditionally serves as the President’s chief science officer). OSTP is reportedly running on fumes. Foreign Policy recently reported that posts on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology — a group of civilian science and tech leaders who advise the president — have also gone unfilled, and are unlikely to be filled.]
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/31/15719870/trump-climate-science-advisers-paris Trump is deciding on the Paris climate agreement with virtually no science advisers on staff What he does have: a lot of climate change denying voices in his West Wing. Updated by Brian Resnick@[email protected] May 31, 2017, 2:45pm EDT : People march from the U.S. Capitol to the White House for the People's Climate Movement to protest President Donald Trump's enviromental policies. Photo by Astrid Riecken/Getty Images President Donald Trump is on the verge of making a decision that could reverberate across generations into the future. He’s reportedly leaning toward pulling the US out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, an accord that got 190 countries working together on reducing emissions to keep global warming beneath a critical threshold of 2 degrees Celsius. Now, the Paris agreement was never guaranteed to save the world. Other countries may pick up the slack and cities and states in the US will continue their efforts to reduce emissions. And the agreement has rallied the global community around avoiding the worst risks of climate change that scientists say are pretty much guaranteed if emissions aren’t sharply reduced soon. But it’s unlikely Trump has considered any of the science involved in the Paris agreement -- he has virtually no one in his White House advising him on scientific issues. Instead, it appears that Steve Bannon, White House counsel Don McGahn, and climate denier EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — who all favor leaving the agreement — are influencing his position with nationalist ideology and fossil fuel industry allegiances. But it’s still remarkable that Trump has not appointed someone to run the White House Office of Science and Technology (a person who traditionally serves as the President’s chief science officer). OSTP is reportedly running on fumes. Foreign Policy recently reported that posts on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology — a group of civilian science and tech leaders who advise the president — have also gone unfilled, and are unlikely to be filled. Both of these groups are meant to give the president an ear to leading scientific expertise. In the past, they’ve advised presidents on issues as diverse as biomedical research, cybersecurity, the emergence of infectious disease, nuclear policy, and, yes, climate science. (Not to mention, there are vacancies in many other science-related federal agencies: Trump has yet to appoint a new director of the CDC, for one. And you’ll recall he fired the surgeon general.) Trump has assembled a business advisory council, a group of civilian executives who have the president’s ear. Tesla-SpaceX founder Elon Musk is on it. But it seems like the president is poised to dismiss his concerns. Follow Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain 11:04 PM - 31 May 2017 14,634 14,634 Retweets 50,452 50,452 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy Follow Elon Musk ✔ @elonmusk @schneby Will have no choice but to depart councils in that case 11:08 PM - 31 May 2017 3,510 3,510 Retweets 13,008 13,008 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy (Musk also sits on the president’s Manufacturing Job Initiative council, and reports he’ll vacate both seats if Trump goes through with pulling out of the climate agreement.) And know: The impact of not having scientists close to the White House stretches further than the topic of climate change. On a recent press call, Rush Holt, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said there “have been very limited conversations” with regards to Trump decision-making on the federal budget and the scientific community. That budget document slashed billions away from medical research that saves lives and invigorates the economy (among other potentially devastating cuts to scientific research across the government). Earlier in the year, it was reported that one of Trump’s top choices for his science adviser was Will Happer, a former Princeton physics professor who told ProPublica the science on global warming was “very, very shaky.” (That position is still unfilled.) In February, I asked John Holdren, who held this job under Obama, if a science adviser whose opinions conflict with the scientific consensus on climate change is better than none at all. “Absolutely,” he told me. “Because somebody who knows about some domains of science and values science would still offer advice on those topics.” But Trump is getting virtually no science advice. II. [Chinese and EU leaders are to agree a joint statement on the Paris climate agreement saying it is "an imperative more important than ever".] http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40106281 Paris climate deal: EU and China rebuff Trump By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent 1 June 2017 From the section Science & Environment *Chinese and EU leaders are to agree a joint statement on the Paris climate agreement saying it is "an imperative more important than ever".* A draft of the document, seen by the BBC, stresses the "highest political commitment" to implement the deal. It will be widely seen as a rebuff to the US, as President Trump prepares to announce on Thursday if the US is withdrawing from the accord. The joint statement will be published on Friday after a summit in Brussels. For more than a year, Chinese and EU officials have been working behind the scenes to agree a joint statement on climate change and clean energy. The document highlights the dangers posed by rising temperatures, "as a national security issue and multiplying factor of social and political fragility," while pointing out that the transition to clean energy creates jobs and economic growth. "The EU and China consider the Paris agreement as an historic achievement further accelerating the irreversible global low greenhouse gas emission and climate resilient development," the draft document says. "The Paris Agreement is proof that with shared political will and mutual trust, multilateralism can succeed in building fair and effective solutions to the most critical global problems of our time. The EU and China underline their highest political commitment to the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement in all its aspects." Trump 'poised to quit Paris climate deal' What is climate change? Climate deal is essential, says UN chief Both sides say they will step up action to and "forge ahead with further policies and measures" to implement their national plans on cutting carbon. Significantly, both the EU and China agree that they will outline their long term low carbon strategies by 2020. CaneteImage copyrightEU Image caption EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete greets his Chinese counterpart at recent climate talks in Marrakech The document outlines other areas of co-operation including on the development and linking of carbon markets. There will also be bilateral work on energy labelling, energy performance standards and the performance standards of buildings. "The EU and China are joining forces to forge ahead on the implementation of the Paris agreement and accelerate the global transition to clean energy," said EU climate commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete. "No one should be left behind, but the EU and China have decided to move forward." Why does Trump want to leave climate deal? grey line What was agreed in Paris? Climate change, or global warming, refers to the damaging effect of gases, or emissions, released from industry and agriculture on the atmosphere. The Paris accord is meant to limit the global rise in temperature attributed to emissions. Countries agreed to: Keep global temperatures "well below" the level of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5C Limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100 Review each country's contribution to cutting emissions every five years so they scale up to the challenge Enable rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy To date, 147 out of the 197 countries have ratified the accord, including the US, where the accord entered into force last November. Exxon shareholders back 'historic' vote on climate Antarctic ice crack takes major turn grey line The increased co-operation between the EU and China comes as reports indicate a further cooling in the US towards the Paris accord. Several sources, quoted by US media, suggest that President Trump is set to pull out. The president himself tweeted he would make his announcement at 15:00 (19:00 GMT) on Thursday. This comes after the President failed to find common ground with other global leaders at G7 summit in Taormina, Sicily. In the wake of that meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel vented her frustration with the US position. "The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying," she told reporters. "There are no indications whether the United States will stay in the Paris Agreement or not." Media captionCalifornia to 'work with China' on climate The new move by the EU and China was warmly welcomed by environmental campaigners, rattled by the prospect of the world's second largest emitter of carbon pulling out of the globally supported agreement. "If US-China climate cooperation gave birth to the Paris Agreement, now it is up to EU and China to defend and enhance it," said Li Shuo, from Greenpeace. "The pair has the potential to become the new driver for international climate diplomacy." Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
