It seems Obama has just put another notch in his belt of legacies, with the signing of a legally binding climate change agreement. Obama had been eyeing the climate agreement in Paris, like an eager boy scout wanting his environmental awareness badge. Unlike any previous US President’s, Obama has been outspoken in his commitment to tackling climate change. President Obama has set the precedent for a national dialogue on climate change, from his rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, to his on air appearance on Bear Grylls in the Alaskan wilderness.
Unlike his predecessors, Obama is committed to the fight against climate change. During the last major climate conference in Kyoto Japan, in 1997, President Clinton didn’t push forward with the agreement, as he failed to take the Kyoto protocol to Senate. Additionally, Bush adopted a growth at all costs model, maximizing industry and development, while Obama has sought to ease the environmental impact caused by unchecked growth. Moreover, in November of 2015, Obama conversely decided to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, which was a hot point between Republicans and environmentalists. President Obama has even appeared in a “Running Wild With Bear Grylls” episode, that takes place in the Alaskan wilderness, to promote his message of climate change. During the show President Obama was escorted by 50 Secret Service personal, and his trek through the Alaskan wilderness tried to captivate watchers about the importance of preserving forests, rivers, flora and fauna in their pristine state. At one point of the episode Obama had to eat an Alaskan Salmon, which had already been half eaten by a bear, tasty!
China and U.S. hardly see eye to eye, but in the Paris climate talks both countries shared the common interest of reaching an agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. China and the U.S. are the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, with the U.S. accounting for 14% and China accounting for 24%, according to the World Resources Institute. Subsequently, Obama has stressed that the Paris climate change agreement allows for an “enduring framework the world needs to solve the climate crisis”.
The agreement seeks to curb global warming, and reduce it to an average of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and an ambitious goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), if possible. The Paris climate agreement doesn’t enter into effect until 55 countries have approved it domestically, and the latter countries must account for 55% of the total greenhouse gasses emitted. Obama seeks to be one of the first leaders to approve this climate change agreement, and the way the agreement is structured allows him to bypass the Senate. Some Republicans have criticized Obama over his implementation of this binding agreement, as some see it as a threat to “American industry while requiring the United States to give money to undeveloped nations”. Consequently, the U.S. as part of the agreement has accepted the responsibility of giving monetary assistance to poor developing countries, to help them cut their emissions and deal with the adverse effects of climate change.
Overall, Obama’s message has been quite clear and outspoken when it comes to climate change. The President of the United States is seeking to create a sustainable future, and is doing so by making the US a role model for developed and developing nations. Obama’s main steps to tackling rising global temperatures are through finical aid to poorer states, and his spearheading of the Paris climate agreement, in order to set the stage for a greener America.
