Go Green CLIMATE CHANGE WORLD CONFERENCE AND HOW IT AFFECTS US

With temperatures in November starting off a full fifteen degrees warmer than the usual average temperate at this time of year and Hurricane ‘Ian’ being only the second recorded November hurricane in Florida’s history, maybe it’s time for us to focus our attention on what is taking place a few thousand miles away in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (referred to as COP27) is being held from November 6 until November 18, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Diplomats, ministers, and world leaders from 200 countries will be attending this most important event. Those who still think climate change is a myth may want to think again as basically every nation in the world is attending the conference.

President Joe Biden addressed the convention to proclaim America’s commitment to be the world leader in fighting climate change and to stress a full commitment to stop the world from an environmental catastrophe, by the continued warming of the planet. The President also apologized for the former administration’s withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement in 2017.

Mr. Biden came to Egypt with his climate change fighting credentials that include the landmark bill ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ that provides a record $370 billion in clean energy and climate investment over the next ten years. This Bill will help us in our fight to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The window of opportunity to avoid catastrophic climate and biodiversity loss is quickly closing, and world leaders have no time to waste to work collectively to steer the fate of life on Earth back to safety.

One of the main topics at the Conference will be related to reparations to the poorer nations because of the effects of climate change. Since climate change and global warming have been caused mainly by the industrialized countries such as the U.S., China, France, and others, many believe these industrialized countries owe support to the poor nations of the world who are suffering climate disasters but who have limited resources to deal with the effects of climate change. Some of the poorest countries affected the most by Climate Change include – Zimbabwe, Kenya, Chad, Bangladesh, Fiji, and many of the other smaller island nations.

Several European countries said they supported the creation of a loss and damage fund and made cash pledges. The U.S. has burned coal and electricity since 1880s and is the biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, so there is pressure on President Biden and the U.S. to follow suit in a pledge to support the investment of fighting climate change in the poorer countries. So far Mr. Biden has made no mention of reparations in his speeches, but he has mentioned the responsibility of developed nations to help support developing nations to fight climate change.

After the climate change summit, President Biden traveled to Bali, Indonesia to attend the Group of 20 summit. At the summit Mr. Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping of China and agreed to restart discussions on fighting climate change. This is a critical breakthrough to avert devastating global warming, as previously talks between the two countries had been frozen for months due to rising tensions regarding global affairs such as trade, Taiwan, and a host of other security issues. Many experts feel without both countries being fully onboard and working together to fight climate change that it would be extremely difficult to avoid environmental catastrophe.

The United Nations Climate Change World Summit, the agreement between the U.S. and China to restart climate change talks, and the Inflation Reduction Act are all positive signs in our fight against climate change. However, our world continues to heat up at a dangerous pace and it will take a truly global effort, including technology and resources sharing, amongst the richer and poorer nations, to win the climate change battle. What will you do to reduce your carbon footprint and help save the planet?

Remember, there is no Planet B.