 So we all knew that this was coming. We knew that Donald Trump would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord And now that process has officially started as of this week Now the problem with the Paris Climate Accord is that it wasn't substantial in and of itself But what little progress we've made Donald Trump's administration is now officially Undoing now this news comes at a time when scientists released a report about climate change That is absolutely chilling. So as Kyla Mandel of HuffPost reports more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries have declared a climate emergency Warning in a new report that untold human suffering is unavoidable without drastic action The climate crisis reaches an emergency level according to the study when business as usual The current action being taken or not by society corporations and governments is not enough to match the scale of what's needed to address the situation in order to avoid a hot-house earth where runaway temperature increases beget further warming The scientists call for immediate action to overhaul the way we live from agriculture to education Rather than piecemeal solutions We need transformative change in the way society functions and interacts with nature William Ripple a professor at Oregon State University's College of Forestry told HuffPost in an email Ripple one of the study's authors called for a holistic solution that also addresses social justice issues And honors the diversity of humans around the world the study Which is published in the journal bioscience by researchers from the university of sydney Oregon state university the university of capetown and tufts university and supported by thousands of other Scientists signatories does not mince words It opens by stating scientists have a moral obligation to clearly warn humanity of any catastrophic threat and to tell it Like it is we declare it continues clearly and unequivocally that planet earth is facing a climate emergency So ask yourself this question after hearing about that study from 11,000 different scientists in 153 countries Have you heard the mainstream media talk about this at all? Has cnn msnbc Made a reference to it has fox news even talks about it even if they are denigrating it I mean this is chilling you have 11,000 scientists Saying if we don't take drastic action, we will witness untold human suffering And there's crickets I mean, I just I don't know what to say about that I don't know what to say. There's no sense of urgency Generally speaking And the situation Is urgent. It requires all hands on deck. It requires constant attention. It requires innovation We need to talk about this. So it's a more salient issue among the american population But we get a study like this And there's nothing That in and of itself Is chilling Just, you know Disaggregating the details of the report just the reaction or lack thereof Is a problem So I mean, I don't know How to put this but the situation is incredibly grim now what these scientists are explicitly calling for Is adaptation and mitigation we need to tackle both of these things Simultaneously because we need to not just stop The temperature from increasing but we need to acknowledge that climate change is a reality It's here and we're going to have to live with it. So empowering ourselves With the capability to adapt It really is important if we want to survive if we don't want this to crush us more so Then it already is and one thing that's fantastic about the Green New Deal Is it does just that it takes into account the need for mitigation And adaptation simultaneously Because if we're going to live with climate change and we will we need to acknowledge that there will be an increase in diseases Which will require medicare for all mass migration will require housing for all Investing in clean renewable technology will require a federal jobs guarantee So all of these things are needed in order to meet the full scale of the climate crisis However, the problem is that the Green New Deal generally speaking is criticized because people think That all of these things like medicare for all jobs guarantee talking about social justice They're not germane to the Green New Deal like if we're going to talk about climate change Let's just talk about climate change. But as the scientists in this report are saying No, you need to have a holistic approach to climate change because this isn't just about stopping the temperature from rising, right? This is about allowing us To live with climate change because it's happening. It's a reality So we need to acknowledge what's going to happen We have to try to anticipate the political ramifications and the social issues That will emerge as a result of climate change and what happens and we've got to adapt So I see a lot of people saying well the Green New Deal It's just doomed to fail because there's a bunch of poison pills in it that make it a lot more difficult to pass But I need people to understand the Green New Deal is not one policy, right the Green New Deal is simply a template that Commits to meeting the needs of climate change mitigation and adaptation Simultaneously, so I've seen some progressive people express skepticism with the Green New Deal because individuals who are corporate Democrats like Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar They also support the Green New Deal But I need you to understand that that doesn't really mean anything the Green New Deal is a blank slate What you need to do is fill it in with the policies that you need and it's not like you Can't pass it alone and just focus on the mitigation aspect because the New Deal going back to that that wasn't just one policy Like it wasn't a law We didn't just pass the New Deal Act and everything from the New Deal was suddenly law That's not the way that that worked and that's not the way that the Green New Deal is going to work It's a package of policies that you pass individually, right? It's a series of reforms that as a whole will amount to what is known as the Green New Deal Which will give us the power to not just potentially stop further climate catastrophe But arm ourselves with the capability to adapt to what will be inevitable in 50 to 100 years Which is climate change that is potentially going to have a runaway effect and get worse So it's a blank slate and candidates like Bernie Sanders have done a phenomenal job at filling in The Green New Deal and what it means to them again It's essentially a wish list of things needed to address the scale of the climate crisis That's it So if you know Amy Klobuchar comes out and endorses the Green New Deal That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a centrist policy It just means that she acknowledges that essentially it's a shell right now of reforms and we are simply acknowledging that This resolution, which the Green New Deal is a resolution. It's not a bill It's saying let's all agree at a minimum that we need to implement reforms that meet the scale of the climate crisis Right, you can commit to that, but it doesn't mean much right now. What really matters are the policies So that's why what Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are doing Is they are making it as wide reaching as broad as possible Because if we're serious about actually surviving climate change Then we can't just limit What we do when it comes to climate change legislation like we have to really think about this As broadly as possible as scientists are saying we need a holistic approach Now on top of that we need to invest in new technology You know, I'm not too educated and well versed in carbon capture and you know Actually taking CO2 out of the atmosphere But we need to do things that stop that right because we're we're continuing to pump all this CO2 To the atmosphere that's an issue So we need to do what we can to make sure we try to remove CO2 as much as we possibly can You know the one thing that comes to mind Is planting a shit ton of trees and thankfully there's youtubers currently who are trying to plant 20 million trees I don't know how feasible that is But that is something that is important now the problem with that Is trees eventually die and then they release the CO2 that You know, they're holding in so that's another story for another day But what matters is that we take action? That is absolutely one drastic and two comprehensive and three Holistic we've got to make sure that we're thinking of everything Trying to anticipate consequences that we don't even know about yet because we have no idea What types of apocalyptic scenarios will come to fruition? With runaway climate change, so we've got to try to arm ourselves with as much as we possibly can healthcare education a jobs guarantee to make sure That we survive. That's what this is about. So you can say That um, I don't think that the Green New Deal should include Medicare for all That's fine. You can say that I don't believe the Green New Deal Should have any reference to social justice at all even though communities of color will be impacted the most That's fine. We disagree but understand these are not things that are inextricably linked to the Green New Deal They are associated with the Green New Deal and they come as part of a package of reforms that together Would amount to a Green New Deal But we need to make sure that we get the details of this right the Green New Deal is a resolution And what matters is the policy that is going into the Green New Deal Um, so far, Bernie Sanders has the most robust comprehensive plan to take action And that's why I'm with Bernie Sanders because it's not a guarantee that Bernie Sanders gets elected and saves us But you know his form of reform would give us a fighting chance and that's all that we can hope for at this point in time