Garachico, Nica Angela M.

BPA-PFMOUMN 1-1

ACTIVITY 1: “The Paris Agreement”

Articles surrounding the internet, different news being delivered by several

reporters and media platforms, government treaties that are continuously pushing
their blind era, scientists who are protesting against climate change and our current
generation who are openly witnessing it - all are happening at the same time.
Everyone, we’ve been here before; why still turn a blind eye to it?

Climate change might as well be global warming is very much common to all
of us because they are interchangeably used in our daily lives. Schools have also
never been short on reminding us how these two concepts affect a vast number of
aspects of our environment and the world itself. However, the younger generation
has been given a minimal power to voice out what they know about it, leading to
being neglected by the ones who are supposedly helping us. This continuous
deprivation that is being experienced by the young generation did not budge their
eagerness to let the people understand how our world is currently in a critical state.
Nevertheless, no matter how vocal those organizations are, they will still be in the
professional and helping hands of the different states in the whole world. As a result
of the aforementioned substantial event, which has been ongoing for how many
decades, different countries were urged to make a stepping solution to slowly and
gradually create a turn in our world, and this chaos gave birth to one of the most
known agreement among our countries, namely, The Paris Agreement.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate
change that has the objective of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees
Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This agreement was adopted by 196
parties at COP 21 in Paris on December 12, 2015 and entered into force on
November 4, 2016. It has become a landmark in the multilateral climate change
process because this certain agreement brings all nations together for the first time
around a common cause. Countries, including the Philippines, joined forces in this,
especially since we are also suffering from the effects of climate change. Even
developed countries such as China, Australia, Iceland and others expressed
reasonable concerns, which helped to strengthen and implement the agreement.
However, the other side of the coin did not go well, as the United States of the
America, under the Trump Administration, withdrew from the said agreement in
2017, but into force in 2019. I have read different articles on why they decided to quit
the Paris Agreement, and they show that fairness is a large factor in it. This
specifically pertains to the perspective that President Donald Trump relayed to its
associations. He said that it was unfair to the US, leaving countries like India and
China free to use fossil fuels while the US had to curb their carbon. It is because the
Paris Agreement also requires those countries who are largely contributing to the
climate change, or specifically global warming, to cut their emissions. For example,
the United States to cut down climate pollution, while China should reduce carbon
intensity and the European Union should reduce carbon emissions. Yet, it did not
end there, as Joe Biden, the current president of the United States entered into the
agreement once more. A year after it, our own scientists showed enough bravery to
finally let us know the shattering news that they had to deliver. NASA Climate
Scientist, Peter Kalmus said, “we have to stop this fossil fuel history, we have to stop
financing fossil fuels, we have to stop fossil fuel projects…… we’re gonna lose
everything”. The protest that happened last year, which became an eye opener to
some of us, alarmed our government even in the slightest way. “It has to stop”.

Certainly, the burning of fossil fuels is one of the largest contributors to global
warming. The heat in the atmosphere causes tension and higher water vapor, which
leads to many more catastrophes like hurricanes, water surges, flooding and many
more. Several researches also revealed that air and water pollution, deforestation,
soil degradation, species extinction and even overpopulation are the five big
contributors to such an environmental crisis. What’s the point? We, the humans who
live on this magnificently created Earth, must change now and practice the concept
of listening rather than neglecting. Because if the scientists said that the Earth would
probably be dead after 3 years, we have to move now. Hearing such irreversible
damage and consequences are indeed scary, but if we take a stance now, it may
lead us to a stronger, cleaner and safer environment. This is not a drill; we are
slowly losing everything; our Earth is dying, young or old, normal citizen or not; make
the Paris Agreement known among countries; let them join the treaty; move now,
because it’s now or never.

SOURCES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUSqdHESQfc&t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DdfNU5iATU

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-54797743

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement

https://www.dw.com/en/five-of-the-worlds-biggest-environmental-problems/a-
35915705

https://unity.edu/hybrid-learning/the-5-biggest-environmental-issues-of-our-time/