Paris Accord gives China free pass
President Trump and anyone who insists we need a better deal than the Paris climate agreement because it is bad for the U.S. is missing the point. The Paris agreement is bad for the entire world, if you believe in climate change. The agreement mandates that the U.S., which is already reducing its carbon footprint, further reduce carbon emissions by at least 25 percent by 2025. China, the world’s largest emitter by far, has no obligation under the agreement at all other than to increase its emissions year-over-year up to the year 2030, at which point it will almost certainly have a larger carbon footprint than the rest of the world combined. Anyone lamenting the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement has either no knowledge of the facts, has not read the agreement, or simply does not take the whole climate change issue seriously in the first place. Maybe the diplomats involved in the agreement should have checked our own EPA, DOE or any number of international organizations for scientific data on actual emissions numbers. If they had, they would have known that anything the U.S. and all other countries do to reduce our carbon footprints, while watching China continue to increase, will not amount to a hill of beans.
GEOFF KNAFOU, HOG MOUNTAIN
U.S. should not turn back on progress
I want to express my sincere appreciation to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and others for standing firm with the Paris Climate Accord. It is a tragic mistake that President Trump has made in reneging on our word on this international agreement. The move to renewable energy sources and new technologies will occur and is already ongoing. This move by Trump only diminishes our nation’s role as a world leader and shaper of destiny. We as a country must not turn our backs on progress and innovation. For the health and well-being of all of us and the planet we inhabit, we must own this problem and work to correct it.
KATHERINE MITCHELL, ATLANTA
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