Paris Agreement on Climate being signed on Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  Today's celebration has global significance, as the Paris Climate Agreement, which prompted Colbert to say goodbye to oil, itself the fifth most read entry of the blogging year just completed, is being signed at the U.N. in New York.  Here is U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry giving the opening address to the Signing Ceremony of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks at the signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change at the United Nations in New York on April 22, 2016.

Next, here is Kerry signing the agreement on behalf of the U.S. with his granddaughter

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry signs the Paris Agreement on Climate Change with his granddaughter at the United Nations on April 22, 2016.

This is a great green day!

Follow over the jump for two videos from The Weather Channel and Test Tube News explaining the significance of the agreement being signed today.

U.S.-China EcoPartnerships: The CoDominion plans for sustainability

A funny thing happened as I was looking for stories to include in Part 2 of this week's Sustainability news linkspam and Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday on Daily Kos; I stumbled upon a distinct story within the theme of sustainability news--sustainability partnerships between the United States and China. It turns out that there were a lot of press releases about this story, which means that the impetus for it was coming from outside the colleges. Sure enough, I found a source for it at the very top.

U.S. State Department: Secretary Clinton To Praise Announcement of Six New U.S.-China EcoPartnerships on May 10

On May 10, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver opening remarks at a signing ceremony for six new U.S.-China EcoPartnerships, taking place alongside the third annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), at the Department of State.

The only person higher would be President Obama himself.

Note that the announcement took place as part of the "U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue." If you want to see one vision of the future, that's it right there; the U.S. and China running the world together. That would be eerily appropriate, as the inspiration for this blog, "The Mote in God's Eye," takes place in the far future of Jerry Pournelle's CoDominion timeline. During the early part of that timeline, the Earth of the 21st Century is being ruled by the two major powers. Of course, in those stories, the powers are the US and USSR, but substituting China for the now-defunct USSR works just as well, if not better.

So, who did the Chinese send over for this announcement?

Secretary Clinton will speak at approximately 9:30 a.m. Chinese Minister Xie Zhenhua will speak on behalf of the Chinese government.

Carrisa Wodehouse over at Sustainable Business Forum identifed Xie Zhenhua as "the Chinese Vice Chairman of the National Development And Reform Commission."  Not the very top, but close enough.

Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Dr. Kerri-Ann Jones and the Secretary’s Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs Reta Jo Lewis will also attend the ceremony.

I'm glad to see the current organizational chart of the State Department has someone that high up in charge of science and the environment.

So, what about the program itself?

Established under the Ten Year Framework on Energy and Environmental Cooperation (TYF), the EcoPartnerships program formally links U.S. and Chinese stakeholders to work on clean energy and sustainable development. Through seven existing partnerships, stakeholders are already sharing best practices on preventing air pollution, protecting water resources, rebuilding after natural disasters, developing electric vehicles and wind energy technologies, and safeguarding natural habitats.

I'm also glad to see that the version of the CoDominion in our timeline is taking sustainability into consideration. I don't think I ever recall Pournelle's fictional version ever doing so. Then again, Pournelle has never been much of a tree-hugger.

Now, who was inducted last week?

Following Secretary Clinton’s opening remarks, a memorandum of understanding will be signed between six new EcoPartnerships:

• Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH) with the China National Off-shore Oil Corp – New Energy Investment Co, Ltd. (Beijing, China)
• Duke Energy (Charlotte, NC) and the city of Charlotte, NC, with ENN Solar Energy Group (Langfang) and the city of City of Langfang (China)
• The State of Utah with Qinghai Province (China)
• Center for Climate Strategies (Washington, DC) with Global Environmental Institute (Beijing, China)
• United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (Austin, TX) with China Business Council for Sustainable Development (Beijing, China)
• Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN) with the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (Beijing, China), Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (Beijing, China), and Institute of Applied Ecology (Shenyang, China).

I don't have time to dig through all of the PR departments of the U.S. members of each of those partnerships, so I'll just concentrate on the last one, which I've bolded.

Details on Purdue University's relationships with the Chinese involving sustainability, along with news of other partnerships involving Michigan universities after the jump.