Shaheen urges action on climate change in Paris

“And that’s what these negotiations are all about”, Shaheen said.

“We are not discussing just the environment, the climate. And young people are looking to us to provide the correct answer to that question”. The key, analysts say, will be agreement on review every five years to ratchet up nations’ commitments. We are not at the end of the route.

Or that the reporter would suggest that “if the talks fail… the planet (faces) a future of rising sea levels, more frequent floods, worsening droughts, food and water shortages, destructive hurricanes and other catastrophic events”, despite there being approximately zero evidence that “climate change” is exacerbating any of these phenomena – or even that a modestly warmer planet would be a bad thing?

“So let’s work”, French President Francois Hollande said in a speech Saturday.

How can it be that a brainwashed 15-year-old Colorado boy is feted for suing the federal government regarding climate change (with claims both scientifically and legally ludicrous) rather than being told to get back in school where he belongs?

The issue is central to U.N. talks in Paris, where almost 200 nations are trying to forge a new pact on climate change. He says, in OR, the shellfish industry is suffering, forest fires are prevalent and the Cascade Mountains are seeing a smaller snowpack. The goal, initially, was to prevent global temperatures from rising beyond 2 degrees Celsius, but the reality of the negotiations is proving more complicated than that.

The overall goal of the Paris agreement, to keep global temperature rise to a specified quantum compared to pre-industrial levels, is pegged at either “below 1.5 degrees C”, or, as “well below 2 degrees C”.

“But it doesn’t matter what we do in New Hampshire”.

Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Chris Coons of Delaware, Al Franken of Minnesota, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tom Udall of New Mexico and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island are also part of the delegation.

Negotiators had hoped to be much further forward at the end of the week.

Redford, trustee of the NGO Natural Resources Defense Council, told The Associated Press that the United Nations climate conference under way in Paris is “key”. Binding emissions cuts would likely require the Obama administration to send the deal to the Republican-controlled Congress, where it would likely be struck down. “Some elements are probably going to be internationally legally binding and some are going to be domestically legally binding”, she said.

How can it be that more than a few dozen Americans take seriously the unhinged Bernie Sanders, who repeatedly claims that climate change is the biggest threat facing the United States and a driving force behind terrorism? “There’s no doubt about that”.

Even so, the new text highlights how much work remains to be done for ministers including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in finding consensus on issues that have bedevilled talks for four years.

They began on Monday with a record-breaking gathering of 150 world leaders who sought to energise the process, and the next crucial phase ended Saturday with the adoption of a draft text of an agreement.

The draft is full of brackets and multiple options, highlighting how a host of sticking points remain to be worked out.

Ministers now have a week to negotiate the final outcome.

He added, however, that “several divergences” remained to be solved in the agreement.

“Major political issues must still be resolved”, French envoy Laurence Tubiana said at Saturday’s meeting.

Poorer countries are demanding finance to pay for the costly shift to renewable technologies, as well as to cope with the impact of climate change.

That issue could be addressed by phasing in stricter requirement or providing financial support to developing countries to help them monitor emissions, said Duncan Marsh, director of worldwide climate policy at the Nature Conservancy, a USA environmental group.