Youth Climate Strike Hawaii

[glinda]

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

"Is... removal of the USA from the Paris Accord criminal?"

I don't know. If you could post a link to the documents I could read them and form an opinion, however I have been unable to find them...

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Yeah, well, knowing the source of that concept it is easy to imagine nothing got done one way or another. Though in matters that there is a real control over things his administration is moving forward.. and gives considerable weight to the argument none-the-less, methinks.

You might find:

CHANGING THE DIGITAL CLIMATE
How Climate Change Web Content is Being Censored Under the Trump Administration

at:

https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/upl...limate.pdf

To be pretty enlightening as to the current administration's approach to the issue of climate change. From that link:

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EDGI’s website monitoring working group monitors changes to tens of thousands of federal webpages that relate to environment, climate, and energy. In the first year of the Trump administration, we have observed alterations to many federal agency Web resources about climate change. Although there is no evidence of any removals of climate data, we have documented overhauls and removals of documents, webpages, and entire websites, as well as significant language shifts.

Key Findings:

• The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) removal and subsequent ongoing overhaul of its climate change website raises strong concerns about loss of access to valuable information for state, local, and tribal governments, and for educators, policymakers, and the general public.

• Several agencies removed or significantly reduced the prominence of climate change Web content, such as webpages, documents, and entire websites, and the White House omitted climate change as an issue highlighted on its website.

• The Department of State, Department of Energy (DOE), and the EPA removed information about the federal government’s international obligations regarding climate change, downplaying U.S. involvement.

• Descriptions of agency priorities shifted to emphasize job creation and downplay renewable fuels as replacements for fossil fuels. At the DOE, mentions of “clean energy” and explanations of harmful environmental impacts of fossil fuels were also removed.

• Language about climate change has been systematically changed across multiple agency and program websites. In many cases, explicit mentions of “climate change” and “greenhouse gases” have been replaced by vaguer terms such as “sustainability” and “emissions”.

These documented changes matter because they:

• Make it more difficult for the scientists, policymakers, historians, and the public to access the results of years of scientific and policy research funded by tax dollars.

• Make it harder for state, local, and tribal governments to access resources designed to help them adapt to and mitigate the harms of climate change. For example, the EPA removed over 200 climate webpages for state, local, and tribal governments.

• Diminish our democratic institutions, such as notice-and-comment rulemaking, which depend on an informed public. The removal of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan website has broad implications.

• Can confuse the public if significant changes are not sufficiently justified. Alterations to the U.S. Geological Survey’s search engine generated public confusion.

• Contribute to broader climate denialist efforts that obscure and cast doubt on the scientific consensus on climate change, hampering critical efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

While we cannot determine the reasons for these changes from monitoring websites alone, our work reveals shifts in stated priorities and governance and an overall reduction in access to climate change information, particularly at the EPA...

That is just the very beginning of that report.. but it is well worth being aware of..

And of course, my point was/is, if our actions cause harm are they criminal? Is denying climate change causing harm?