Pittsburgh mayor fires back after Trump invokes Steel City in Paris accord withdrawal

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Bill

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Pittsburgh mayor fires back after Trump invokes Steel City in Paris accord withdrawal




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Caitlin DicksonBreaking News Reporter

Yahoo NewsJune 1, 2017










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President Trump and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto. (Photos: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Heather Kennedy/Getty Images)
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President Trump zeroed in on western Pennsylvania in his announcement Thursday that he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said in remarks delivered in the White House rose garden.
But those in the Steel City were quick to distance themselves from the president’s controversial decision, including Mayor Bill Peduto, who tweeted his support for the multination pact to fight global warming and reminded Trump that Pittsburgh backed his rival, Hillary Clinton, on Election Day.
“Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh,” Peduto, a Democrat, tweeted shortly after Trump’s speech. “Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement.”

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Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80% of the vote in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement @HillaryClinton https://twitter.com/theinclinepgh/status/870368024926224384 …



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Peduto further reiterated his disagreement with the president, tweeting, “As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future.”

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As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future. https://twitter.com/presssec/status/870367903337644032 …



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Trump’s announcement puts the U.S. alongside Syria and Nicaragua as the only three countries on earth not participating in the Paris climate accord.
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, also took issue with the president’s shoutout to Pittsburgh.
“If @realDonaldTrump really wanted to help the people of Pittsburgh, he would protect their clean air & opportunity for jobs,” Casey tweeted, adding that “Earlier this year I held a town hall in Pittsburgh & the residents in attendance called for action on climate change.”

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Earlier this year I held a town hall in Pittsburgh & the residents in attendance called for action on climate change. Cc: @realDonaldTrump



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If @realDonaldTrump really wanted to help the people of Pittsburgh,he would protect their clean air & opportunity for jobs. #ParisAgreement



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Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also tweeted in solidarity with Pittsburgh.
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Bill, do you actually know what is in the Paris Accords, because I'm pretty sure you don't?


President Trump has signaled pretty heavily that he wants to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, and is widely expected to make it official Thursday afternoon.

Cue the impassioned indignation!

The leaders of all other G7 nations have urged Trump to remain in the accord, which seeks to limit greenhouse gas emissions and has been signed by every nation on Earth except Nicaragua and Syria. Secretary of State (and former oilman) Rex Tillerson also wants the U.S. to stay committed to the agreement. Large corporations have opposed the move, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk even threatened to resign from Trump's CEO advisory council if Trump goes through with it. And of course, no debate about the environment would be complete without Hollywood's expert opinions. Mark Ruffalo tweeted that Trump would "have the death of whole nations on his hands" (whole nations! Not just parts of nations, whole nations!); Don Cheadle implored the president to change his mind because of the children (won't someone think of the children?!). Meanwhile Trump has reminded everyone that withdrawing from the Paris Agreement was a campaign promise of his, and has said that it hurts jobs in the Rust Belt, which is a core issue for his core constituency.

But really, all this outrage and controversy is absolute nonsense.
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Ever since it was signed in 2015, the Paris Agreement has been a totem to which everyone genuflects. The problem, though, is that beyond allowing people an opportunity to do some serious virtue signaling, the Paris Agreement actually doesn't do much of anything.

This is not rhetorical exaggeration. As the Manhattan Institute's Oren Cass has pointed out, each nation's emissions reduction commitment is based on what is known as "Intended Nationally Determined Contribution" (INDC). In English? That means each nation under the agreement gets to decide how much it wants to reduce its emissions.

This might do some marginal good if you could at least compare emissions and maybe have transparency that would allow NGOs and others to name, shame, and nudge countries that do not reduce their emissions significantly, but developing countries vetoed a move that would have forced participants to set their targets under commonly shared metrics. A number of developing countries, chief among them China and India, have successfully lobbied so that "any obligatory review mechanism for increasing individual efforts of developing countries" was rejected from the Paris framework.

In other words, any country can state whatever metrics it wants. A country can submit a paper napkin that says "covfefe" as its emissions target, and then some years later, declare it has reached its emissions target. And that's pretty much what has happened. China's "target" for emissions "reductions" is actually less ambitious than the business-as-usual level, according to an analysis by Bloomberg; in other words, if China does nothing at all to reduce emissions, it will comfortably meet its target. But China at least forecasts some emissions reduction. India's target shows emissions never peaking or reducing. And yet it is still asking for $2.5 trillion in international aid to meet its "goal."

This might be why some estimates suggest that the "reductions" the Paris deal will "accomplish" show no improvement at all over the emissions baseline projected by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2000.

Whether you believe climate change is the most serious and pressing issue facing the world, or you believe it's a big hoax, it doesn't change the fact that the Paris deal is and always has been a bust. When Mark Ruffalo (or Angela Merkel, for that matter) warns of the dire consequences of leaving the Paris accord, they are blowing smoke. But that also applies to Trump when he claims that leaving the Paris accord will save jobs in the Rust Belt.

So, what will the consequences of leaving the Paris deal actually be? You can argue that by leaving, Trump would signal even more his intent to pull the U.S. out of multilateral frameworks, and that this would further damage relationships with allies. But you could also argue that the United States government lending its credibility to what is really an elaborate charade also damages its standing. It's all about how the accord is perceived, not what it actually does, which is zippo.

http://theweek.com/articles/702685/stop-freaking-about-paris-agreement

Sent from my iPhone 25 GT
 
Milagro said:
Bill, do you actually know what is in the Paris Accords, because I'm pretty sure you don't?
Click to expand...
I'm certain trump doesn't. Nothing happens til 2020. By then, he'll just be a scant memory of a silly fad. Kinda like the pet rock.
 
Althea said:
I'm certain trump doesn't. Nothing happens til 2020. By then, he'll just be a scant memory of a silly fad. Kinda like the pet rock.
Click to expand...
Ironic thanks! Scott Pruitt knows what's in it and any number of scientific advisers know as well including William Happer.

Sent from my iPhone 25 GT Turbo
 
I am having a hard time understanding the lefts position here


is it

1) the world is now going to end because Trump pulled out of the Paris Accord?

or

2) it doesn't matter that he pulled out?


PS

I am loving the mental breakdown on Morning Shmo this morning. Joe Scarborough has finally given up any pretense of being a conservative. He may have been at some point in his career. But, I suspect Mika's magic pussy has caused him to lose his mind
 
I think its really sweet of Pittsburgh to stand up and agree to give India $1.25T for not reducing its carbon emissions so the rest of us won't have to....... if he goes through with it, maybe in 2020 Pittsburgh will vote 80% for the re-election of Trump and a Republican mayor......
 
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