With the European Union formally joining the Paris Climate Agreement on Wednesday, over 55 countries (representing over 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions) have signed on to the accord which will now officially enter into force on November 4th.
There's no doubt about it -- this is a big, big deal.
Countries from around the world have agreed to limit global warming to no more than 2°C over pre-industrial levels...and there's even a "stretch goal" of 1.5°C.
Pretty good, right?
Well...sort of. It will take a lot of heavy lifting to hit these goals (such as immediately ending public subsidies for fossil fuels) and, even then, some experts think the Paris Agreement will only limit warming to an additional 3.5°C (that's 6.3°F).
But here's the real kicker: the agreement's "commitments" aren't really commitments. They're more like big publicly stated goals - with plans to reach those goals and mechanisms to track them - but no penalties for falling short. In fact, when the word "shall" (rather than "should") appeared in the draft agreement at the last minute, it almost killed the entire deal. The offending word was, of course, hastily removed.
In short, Paris gives us hope...but only voting will give us results.
It's crucially important that environmentalists make their voices heard at the polls, this year and every year. Whether the United States lives up to its Paris Agreement "commitments" will depend solely upon which leaders we elect and how much pressure we put on them to enact the necessary laws.
And we're not just talking about national elections. Most of the real heavy lifting will be done by state and municipal governments, which is why environmentalists need to vote in every single election. Yes, every single election.
And it all starts with signing this Environmental Voter pledge.
Seriously...sign the pledge. Here's why:
- Over 10.1 million environmentalists didn't vote in the 2012 presidential election. We can't let that happen again - when environmentalists don't vote, politicians don't listen.
- Studies have shown that if you sign this pledge to vote (and then we remind you of the pledge before each election), your likelihood of voting skyrockets. It's an easy, effective way to help you be a more consistent voter.
- Are you already a perfect voter? Please sign the pledge anyway! The more people who pledge to vote, the easier it is to convince others to join you!
- It only takes 2 minutes! That's right...just 2 minutes to fill out the pledge. Then we'll help you to never miss an election again.
We know you care about climate change, and we know that you want to be a consistent voter...so let us help you. We'll never tell you who to vote for - we just want to make sure that environmentalists always remember to vote.
Click here and pledge to be an Environmental Voter today.
The Paris Agreement has given us a great opportunity. Let's not waste it.