Nation Article, Mark Hertsgaard

[Robert Marshall]

Hi all,

I send you the url for this article by Mark Hertsgaard:

I hope you can access the Nation article via this url, but it you can’t some of his points are snipped below to give you the gist.

Hertsgaard makes a number of powerful points in his article:

1) " Thanks a lot, Republicans. You weren’t in Paris physically, but you still managed to grievously weaken the landmark agreement reached at the global climate summit. On one hand, it is amazing and inspiring that virtually all the world’s governments approved a plan to address an existential collective threat by pledging to leave behind the fossil fuels that are the foundation of modern economies and are controlled by some of the most powerful corporations and nation-states in history. Naming 1.5 degrees Celsius as a goal for the eventual maximum temperature rise was a stunning diplomatic victory for the world’s poor and vulnerable countries. And people of all nations will now take heart that meaningful climate action is possible, which will lend further momentum to the proceedings.”

2)" Al Gore, who in recent years has transitioned from the public to the private sector, is unabashedly optimistic. “This universal and ambitious agreement sends a clear signal to governments, businesses, and investors everywhere: the transformation of our global economy from one fueled by dirty energy to one fueled by sustainable economic growth is now firmly and inevitably under way,” Gore said.”  

3) "Including the 1.5°C target in the Paris agreement ups the ante considerably. Hitting the 2°C target requires getting the entire world economy off fossil fuels by roughly 2050, an all-star panel of climate scientists explained at the summit, but hitting 1.5°C accelerates that schedule by a decade or two. This means that not only coal, but also oil and gas, must be left behind, and sooner than almost anyone imagined. Thus, 1.5 °C amounts to a death sentence for the global petroleum complex as currently operated. It is only logical, then, that companies like Exxon- Mobil and Chevron, and petro-states like Saudi Arabia and Russia, will fight to the death to avoid it.

4) "Overcoming the resistance of the status quo in this and many other manifestations of the fossil-fuel era is the moral imperative of our time. Hans Schellnhuber, one of the world’s most eminent climate scientists and a top adviser to Pope Francis as he prepared his climate-change encyclical Laudato si’, made a point in Paris of highlighting the importance of the fossil-fuel divestment movement, which he portrayed as a modern descendant of the 19th-century movement to abolish slavery. “It will be the job of civil society, including business leaders, cities, and the investor community, to finish the job that national governments have begun here in Paris,” said Schellnhuber. “In particular I’d like to mention that the divestment movement will be crucial.”

 
 I hope you are able to get to the full article.  It is excellent.

 The Fate of the World Changed in Paris—but by How Much?

If taken seriously, the commitments made at COP21 could spell death for the fossil-fuel industry. That’s a big “if.”

By Mark HertsgaardTwitter

December 13, 2015

http://www.thenation.com/article/the-fate-of-the-world-changed-in-paris-but-by-how-much/http://www.thenation.com/article/the-fate-of-the-world-changed-in-paris-but-by-how-much/              

Robert Marshall
nm...@charter.net
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"We need to move 
from our human-centered
to an earth-centered 
norm of reality and value."  Thomas Berry