The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: EU Must Step Up on Climate Because US Is Being ‘Stupidly’ Led
Dear Diary. With Trump and his fossil fuel loving cronies doing their level best to make our climate worse, can another area of the world counterbalance bad policy coming from the U.S.? I seriously doubt that because it is necessary fof all countries across the planet to sign onto the Paris Accords to limit average global warming below +2.0°C above preindustrial conditions.
In the case of large political entities, the question of the day is, can the European Union make up the slack caused by the United States’ bad policy decisions? I doubt it, but I would love the EU to try. Every country should be under a climate emergency as far as I am concerned. As far as the U.S. goes, unfortunately we might see another catastrophic weather event or series of events between now and the elections of 2026 and 2028 that will spur us to vote for new leadership such that Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act policies get reinstated and built upon.
Here are more details from Common Dreams:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/mary-robinson-climate-european-union-united-states
Mary Robinson, then-Chair of The Elders, addresses a Security Council open debate on the topic of “maintenance of international peace and security upholding the UN Charter” at the U.N. headquarters in New York, on Jan. 9, 2020. (Photo: Li Muzi/Xinhua via Getty)
Former UN Human Rights Head: EU Must Step Up on Climate Because US Is Being ‘Stupidly’ Led
The interview with Mary Robinson comes as the Trump administration seeks to undercut climate research and congressional Republicans target portions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson is urging the European Union to step up and lead the way on combating the climate emergency in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. response to the crisis. Her remarks come as congressional Republicans are moving ahead with a plan to scale back Democrats’ signature climate law passed in 2022.
Speaking on a Thursday episode of the podcast “Radio Schuman” from Euronews, Robinson said that she is “hoping that there will be a sense that actually the E.U. now has an opportunity, because the United States is being badly led on climate, actually stupidly led on climate.”
Robinson highlighted the fact that Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, the global treaty aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, reprising a move from his first term in office. She also noted the Trump administration’s efforts to undercut climate research. In April, the Trump administration dismissed hundreds of scientists and experts working on the 6th National Climate Assessment, the government’s flagship climate report.
These moves from the U.S. come as the E.U. has tempered its climate ambitions.
When asked whether she’s critical of how the E.U. is currently handling climate change, Robinson said that the “E.U. is taking a long time, and we would need to see leadership now, but it’s better to get good leadership than rush leadership.”
As part of an independent group of global leaders called The Elders, Robinson recently met with E.U. officials where she and her fellow leaders sought to “encourage Europe to step up.”
“The E.U. should step up on climate and nature and fulfill the commitments that are necessary,” she told the Euronews.
On top of the actions by the Trump administration Robinson highlighted, a GOP megabill currently making its way through Congress includes provisions that target the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—a move that green groups have slammed.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved a portion of the bill that would take back billions of dollars in unspent funds from IRA grant programs, and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are pressing ahead with a portion of the bill that repeals clean energy incentives under the IRA.
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Eloise Goldsmith is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Wednesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)