Inertia unit memo - is for Geo 1200 PDF

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Ryan Hnatiuk Dr. Tony Weis, M. Gilhooly, V. Reitmeier Geography 1200A November 26, 2020 Inertia For decades it has been widely known that the earth has been warming as a direct result of humans, yet, we continue to struggle to adopt urgent action. To this we ask, why are we lurching when we desperately need to be sprinting? Throughout this unit, three key topics emerged; the presence of large oil companies, the failure of countless climate accords, and the lack of action from our world’s top leaders. Combined, these topics have left our generation with “the most urgent environmental problem of our time” (Crist 32). Big name oil companies are the leaders of the denier industry. Their primary goal is to instill doubt through false claims, allowing them to further their projects in the most extreme conditions. One of the biggest companies to blame is Exxon Mobil. Since 1978, Exxon Mobil`s scientist have made it well aware to top management that climate change is indeed real, and that greenhouse gases are rising. Climate change was a real threat yet, “Exxon and its worldwide affiliates were crafting a public policy position that sought to downplay the certainty of global warming” (Jerving et. al), leaving the public in the dark. Exxon continued to practice as normal, seeing the situation in their favour. This allowed them to explore further north in the Beaufort Sea as ice continued to melt away. Exxon had the chance to change the world for the better, however, they thought of themselves first, and changed paths for the infinitely worse. A second topic to mention when observing the lack of climate action are the various climate agreements. Since the 1990s, countries around the world have struggled to come to an

2 Hnatiuk agreement on emission reduction commitments. The Montreal Protocol in 1987 identified that there was an uneven distribution of emissions, however, little action emerged. Ten years later, the UNFCCC came out with the Kyoto Protocol. The binding part of this contract called for a five percent emission reduction by 2012. By no means was this ambitious, it was relative and attainable. After almost two decades of failed meetings, comes the Paris Agreement. This agreement has not been beneficial either. It came with ratified clauses, such as lowering the temperature goal to 1.5 degrees, however, in the end, these agreements are aspirations, there are no legally binding parts. As a result, about “53.5 Gt CO2 were emitted into the atmosphere in 2017, and it exceeded in 2018” (Christensen and Olhoff 3) and countries even pulled out. Pablo Salon asserts that “the Paris Agreement will see the planet burn”. A final topic to mention is the failure of our world’s most powerful leaders. As Greta Thunberg talked about in Madrid, people like Donald Trump have failed us, they do not want to admit the actual severity of the situation, and instead downplay it. Donald Trump constantly refers to climate change as a hoax and adds doubt to the situation relentlessly. He continues to weaken policies, allowing the country to drill and explore territories previously protected. He even believes that Paris Agreement “was designed to kill the American economy.” (Liptak). Canada has not proven much better. During Harper administration, it was believed Canada should be granted “special treatment” with regards to climate policies and did not get involved in negotiation during certain accords. Leaders like these make up the “coalition of the unwilling” and halt serious change. It is evident that mitigation is becoming harder. Exxon Mobil, alike with Shell and BP, has the power and influence to pay many parties to continue denial claims. These companies are fighting against stranded assets. In order to reach global targets, the USA, Australia, and Russia

3 Hnatiuk would have to leave around ninety percent of oil in the ground. Around the world, about twentyseven trillion dollars’ worth of oil would remain stranded (Jakob and Hilaire), something these companies do not want to leave behind. Every year countries meet to discuss mitigation plans, with each year that fails, the limits of CO2 released get tighter and nearly impossible to reach. There are no legal bounds to agreements, breaking the agreement has no repercussions, and we wonder why no warranted action has been taken. Our world leaders for too long have cared about themselves, and not the earth. Accords are not meant to destroy economies or force communism as some leaders preach. Rather, they’re trying to make the world habitable for all generations to come. Climate change was known four decades ago, and in 2020, we continue to undermine scientists and fail to take the steps necessary to change paths. It is clear that we are approaching a run away Earth.

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Works Cited Christensen, John. Olhoff, Anne. “Lessons from a decade of emissions gap assessments.” United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi. 2019. Crist, Eileen. “Beyond the Climate Crisis: A Critique of Climate Danger Discourse.” Telos 141. 2007, pp 29-55 Jakob, Michael. Hilaire, Jerome. “Un-burnable Fossil Fuel Reserves.” Nature, vol. 517, Jan 2015, pp. 150-151. Doi: 10.1038/517150a graphics.latimes.com/exxon-arctic/ Jerving, Sara. Jennings, Katie. Hirsch, Masako. Rust, Susanne. “What Exxon knew about the Earths Melting Arctic.” Los Angeles Times. 9 Oct. 2015. graphics.la times.com/exxon-arctic/ Liptak, Kevin. “Trump rails against Paris climate accord in virtual G20 event.” CNN Politics. 22 Nov. 2020. www.cnn.com/2020/11/22/politics/trump-paris-climate-accordg20/index.html...