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| Nearly 400 scientists urge leaders at U.N. this week to make global warming their most pressing concern. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, FILE) |
The letter, signed by 375 members of the National Academy of Sciences, is meant to urge American policymakers and leaders to make climate change their most pressing concern, not only because of record warming in the last year, but because of the possibility of Trump winning the presidency.
Hawking and his colleagues said the primary elections were alarming enough, with claims "that the Earth is not warming, or that warming is due to purely natural causes outside of human control." Those positions are "inconsistent with reality," the letter said.
Much like climate change, "the political system also has tipping points," the letter said. "Thus it is of great concern that the Republican nominee for president has advocated U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord," which was agreed to last year by 196 countries, including the United States, to cut greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming by at least 2 degrees. Many scientists blame the emissions from burning fossil fuels for driving manmade climate change.
Trump's proposed "Parexit" would send a clear message to the world that "the United States does not care about the global problem of human-caused climate change. You are on your own."
"Such a decision would make it far more difficult to develop effective global strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change," the letter said. "The consequences of opting out of the global community would be severe and long-lasting — for our planet's climate and for the international credibility of the United States."
The letter comes one day before 20 countries led by Morocco plan to ratify the Paris agreement on Wednesday during a special ceremony at the U.N. in New York. It also comes less than a week before Trump debates Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the first time on Monday night.
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