Environment
U.S. rejoins Paris Climate Accord
The United States officially rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement today, according to a statement released by Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken.
“On January 20, on his first day in office, President Biden signed the instrument to bring the United States back into the Paris Agreement. Per the terms of the Agreement, the United States officially becomes a Party again today,” the statement reads.
Under the agreement’s rules, a country can formally re-enter the pact 30 days after it gives notice to the United Nations. Today is end of the 30-day period.
The statement continues, “Addressing the real threats from climate change and listening to our scientists is at the center of our domestic and foreign policy priorities.
The statement goes on to say that re-joining the agreement is “momentous.”
“Now, as momentous as our joining the Agreement was in 2016 — and as momentous as our rejoining is today — what we do in the coming weeks, months, and years is even more important.”
The Trump administration announced its withdrawal from the Paris agreement in 2019 saying it was in the United States’ “economic interest to do so.” Because of provisions in the agreement, Trump’s order did not go into effect until Nov. 4, 2020 – one day after Biden won the presidential election.
Once Biden took office, he appointed former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry – who helped negotiate the Paris deal in 2015 – as the first-ever presidential envoy on climate and made him a part of his National Security Council.
“Today’s the day. We’re officially back in the Paris Agreement – again part of the global climate effort. No country can fight this fight on its own. We look forward to a productive year and a successful #COP26 in Glasgow. #GoodToBeBack,” Kerry wrote on Twitter.
Kerry will join the U.N. chief on Friday for an event to mark the U.S. return to the pact.
Biden has also said his administration will hold a Leaders’ Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, as part of its climate diplomacy.
Environment
Major border town on ‘brink of collapse’ as migrants ruin agriculture, overrun hospitals and resources
“It will only get worse with Biden’s policies” is the message from a border town that is on the “brink of collapse.” Yuma, Arizona is suffocating under a surge of hundreds of thousands of migrants overloading the area’s resources.
Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told Fox News that “policies need to be changed when you see an unprecedented amount of people coming across the border that even supersedes what we saw under any of the other presidents for the past 30 years.”
“And they’re coming because they said that Biden told them to come, that we have an open border” Lines continued, as overcrowded and overloaded food banks, hospitals and shelters threaten food security.
Customs and Border Patrol sources told Fox News on Sunday 1.2 million illegal migrants have escaped Border Patrol since Biden took office.
“The problem that we’re foreseeing right now is there’s a couple of big waves coming,” a Yuma resident and fifth-generation farmer, Hank Auza, told Fox News. “Yuma can’t support that. It will overwhelm the system here.”
In December, another border town El Paso, Texas, declared a state of emergency as thousands of migrants camped in the streets during below-freezing temperatures. “Many migrant shelters were over capacity, leading the city to use the local airport for temporary refuge” reports Fox News.
A crucial aspect of the crisis that many do not consider and the mainstream media does not cover is the damage done to agriculture. “Our fields are monitored and audited and tested for different pathogens,” Yuma farmer Alex Muller told Fox News. “You can’t have people walking through the field.”
A fifth-generation farmer and resident Hank Auza said Yuma’s fields, which produce 93% of the nation’s leafy greens in the winter months, have faced a fair amount of migrant traffic, risking damage to their crops due to foodborne illness concerns. He also said many residents can’t get into the city’s only hospital.
“People have had a hard time getting into the hospital because the hospital has been so full of” illegal immigrants, Auza told Fox News.
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