Ajao Blog Post 4

 Christine Ajao

Professor Shirk

POLS 170

20 April 2022 

Can the State of our Environment be Political? And Should it?

In Francis’s article “Cities, States, and Companies vow to stick to the Paris Agreement” he discusses how although Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris agreement, the US still plans to be a part of the decision to curb climate change. Other counties and organizations plan to stick to the Paris Agreement, where the goal is to lower greenhouse emissions. Trump says he did it to save US jobs and used the phrase “He said he was leaving the pact to help the people of Pittsburgh, not Paris, despite the fact that the Steel City has successfully shifted away from heavy manufacturing to a robust economy fueled by the tech, healthcare, and higher-learning sectors” (Francis). This statement clearly highlights political sentiments toward joining an agreement that would benefit the environment. The question is ‘Can the state of our Environment be Political? And Should it?’

There have been different agreements and protocols to ensure that the state of our environment is where it needs to be. For example, the Montreal Protocol was enforced to fix the state of the Ozone layer and phase out products that would deplete the ozone layer. This ended up being successful, where parts of the Ozone layer were adjusted and where they needed to be. This was significant because the US was a part of this protocol in effect in 1989, before a big political movement and when the US began to see the bipartisan fight against the environment. Now, there are clearly partisan issues in this new agreement. Before the Trump administration which is a Republican administration, the Obama Administration which is a democratic administration was a part of the Paris Agreement and vowed to lower greenhouse gases by at least 2%. The issue of having enough jobs in the United States was not relevant for Obama’s case to pull the US out of the agreement and seems to only be an important factor for the Trump administration. Clearly, there are party ties to the environment and how we fix the state of it. 

Should the state of our Environment be Political? Personally, I would like the state of our environment to be something that both parties should agree on and worry about fixing. The world that we live in is going through a serious climate change where if it progresses there will be worse heat waves, floods droughts, and more extreme weather during certain seasons. These effects will hit everyone no matter what party believes they will. Floods don’t stop just because you’re Republican and heat waves will come even if you’re a democrat. These are issues that all world leaders should ban together and fix. 


https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/02/cities-states-and-companies-vow-to-stick-to-the-paris-climate-agreement/

Comments

  1. Simone BilleraApril 26, 2022 at 2:14 PM

    I really enjoyed reading this blog post. Your main question was stated clearly by the end of the first paragraph. It was both thought-provoking and very relevant. As we just experienced with the coronavirus, everything inevitably gets politicized in the United States right now. Issues that should fought by a united force of our citizens are instead met with polarized parties and spiteful decisions. It is truly devastating. I agree with your argument stated in the last paragraph, and I really loved the following line: "Floods don't stop just because you're a Republican, and heat waves will come even if you're a Democrat." Such a sentiment might seem simple, but I feel as if many U.S. citizens have forgotten that we are playing for the same team: humanity.

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