3.3 HuGeo Q4 The Paris Climate Agreement and President Biden

3.3 HuGeo Q4 The Paris Climate Agreement and President Biden's Climate Summit

What is the Paris climate agreement and why did the US rejoin? What happened last week on climate change?

Multiple Select

What is the Paris Agreement?

(treaty, deal, contract, agreement, accord, understanding)

• The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change.

• Adopted by nearly 200 countries in the French capital on 12 December 2015, it came into force on 4 November 2016.

• The deal united all the world's nations - for the first time - in a single agreement on tackling global warming and cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.

• nah, not a big deal

Old people joke

... famous move line ...

Multiple Select

"Paris" in the context of climate change, has nothing to do with Paris, France, the city. "Paris" is shorthand for global climate agreements. Senator Ted Cruz did not understand that. Read and then click on all.

Multiple Select

What are the main goals of the Paris deal?

• To keep global temperatures "well below" 2.0C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times

• To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity

• Each country sets its own emission-reduction targets

• Rich countries will only help themselves. That's what rich countries do.

• Rich countries help poor nations.

Multiple Select

Former President Trump is a climate change denier. He also confuses climate and weather. He should take Human Geography! Click on climate change language.

• In January 2019, temperatures fell to below minus-40 degrees in MN. Schools closed. Remember?

• But but but, the nation’s average temperature for January 2019 was nearly 3 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal.

• January 2019 was also the globe’s third-warmest January on record.

• Yes, short-term weather, such as cold snaps — are still a thing. The former president confused weather and climate.

Multiple Select

Why did the United States leave the Paris agreement?

• Read the slides, look at the photo. The former president gave large, polluting companies everything they wanted.

Multiple Select

The U.S. is back on board with the Paris Climate Agreement.

• The goal of all these international agreements is to cut carbon emissions.

• The U.S. is responsible for 50% or the world's carbon emissions.

• The U.S. is responsible for 15% or the world's carbon emissions.

• Some countries hid behind Trump's and the U.S.'s bad climate behavior. Because we're back in Paris, they can't do that anyore.

Multiple Select

What does Joe Biden's virtual summit April 22-23, 2021 have to do with the Paris Agreement? Click on 4.

• Biden's summit is shows how serious he is about tackling climate change.

• US government "re-enters the global climate fight".

• The US has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

• Trump was a better president for the environment.

Multiple Select

President Biden, January 20, 2021. Elections matter! Click on the cartoons that show Biden v. Trump on climate issues.

Multiple Select

Biden stops drilling for oil in Alaska's wilderness. Click on the boxes that are about keeping Alaska wild.

• Yawn, nobody cares about Alaska.

Multiple Select

Good news for the environment. Biden stopped the Keystone XL pipeline from going forward. Click on the pipeline boxes.

• Keystone XL pipeline moves tar sands, one of the dirtiest sources of oil in the world.

• Former President Donald Trump granted Keystone XL pipeling a permit in 2019.

• The Obama administration denied one in 2015.

Multiple Select

The Trump administration had a lot of "climate change deniers". Click on their ideas about climate change not being a thing:

• Climate change is not real. The idea was invented by the Chinese government to hurt the American economy.

• Carbon emissions have nothing to do with global warming.

• Climate change is real. It's happening now. We must act immediately to save our planet, our home.

• We don't know what causes climate change.

Multiple Select

President Biden re-joining Paris on DAY 1 of his presidency is GREAT, AWESOME news for us and the world. Youth, you all, have already made a difference. Keep going!!! The world needs you!!! Click on the enthusiasm of Minnesota students!