March Issue v

4
news
1900 president -0.1°C biden’s
2021
PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT
UNFCCC
1.16°C
FRACKING ENERGY
CARBON NEUTRAL 2050
OIL1.5 DEGREE CELCIUS
climate planTIPPING POINT CARBON
ELECTRICAL CAR
NET-ZERO UPGRADES
Are we acting fast enough?
RISING TEMPERATURE
By OLIVIA STEPHAN ‘24
Graphics and design by Chloe Yan ‘24 • Photography by Carly Goldenberg ‘22
Global temperatures are currently
on track to rise at least three degrees
Celsius by 2100 if Earth’s
climate stays on its current trajectory.
To put this in perspective, the average
global temperature throughout the
year 1900 was -0.1 degrees Celsius; now,
in 2021, it is 0.9 degrees Celsius. In the
past 120 years, the Earth’s temperature
has only risen about 1 degree Celsius.
Within the next 80 years, it
could increase three times that.
The Trump administration
did not prioritize environmental
concerns.
At the start of his
On his first day in office, President
Biden signed back onto the Paris Agreement.
Additionally, he set up a thoroughly
detailed climate plan, with the primary
goal of having the United States
be carbon neutral or net-zero by 2050.
President Biden hopes
to focus on streamlining
ing charging stations across the country.
500,000 new charging stations are
slated for completion soon, although
one could argue a more reasonable goal
is making all federal vehicles electric.
In the energy industry, the number
of coal plants is falling in the U.S.,
replaced by a focus on solar
and wind as energy sources.
Natural gas power
plants, however, still
account for the majority
of the
Additionally, the U.S. government
plans to upgrade 4 million buildings, although
what type is not specified, and
weatherize 2 million homes with a 2 trillion
dollar budget. The upgrades will
make the buildings energy-efficient,
meaning they’ll require less energy to
do the same tasks. An example of weatherizing
homes is installing better windows
so that less energy is needed to heat
or cool a house during certain seasons.
The Paris Climate Agreement’s primary
goal is to keep the global temperature
increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius indefinitely
(we are currently at
1.16 degrees Celsius).
By combining
President
Biden’s
com-
foury
e a r
term,
President
Trump withdrew
the U.S.
from the Paris
Climate Agreement,
an international treaty
that began in 2015 that focuses
on climate change. The
Paris Agreement works in tandem
with the United Nations Framework Convention
for Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Throughout his presidency,
Trump’s Environmental Protection
Agency worked to reverse the clean
power plan and loosen toxic air regulations.
He also removed climate change
from the list of national security threats.
transportation,
energy production, and overall
energy efficiency in his coming term.
Goals for the transportation sector
include prioritizing the production
of electric vehicles along with build-
country’s energy
production. To reduce gas consumption,
President Biden has tried to
limit fracking on federal lands. However,
this has not proven effective yet, as
90% of fracking occurs on private land.
pre-
hen-
sive
p l a n
w i t h
those of the
United Nations
and the Paris
Agreement, this
goal becomes more attainable.
In the short time
frame humanity has left before
the effects of climate change become
irreversible, the looming question remains:
“Will our actions be fast enough?”
“
In the past 120
years, the Earth’s
temperature has
only risen about
1 degree Celsius.
Within the next 80
years, it could
increase three
times that.”
1910 2021 2100
-0.1°C 1.16°C 4.16°C