The newly elected president, Donald Trump, has put out an executive order titled, “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements.” The executive order sets out a formal notice that the U.S. is withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. According to the Paris Agreement, any nation’s withdrawal takes into effect one year after a notice has been submitted. So, this means that the U. S’s official withdrawal will take into effect sometime in January 2026.
The Paris Agreement is an international treaty set to combat climate change. With the consequences of burning fossil fuels and land use changes, there has been a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions; resulting in a global average temperature of over 1 degree Celsius since the 19th century.
These global issues are why The Paris Agreement developed. The agreement’s main goal is to make the global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius and to even limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This goal is meant to prevent severe climate consequences due to temperature like sea level rising, ecosystem loss, and extreme weather events.
To meet these goals, all the parties in the Paris Agreement legally must submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s) every five years to make sure everyone is doing their part.
Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) teacher, Mrs. Fisher, explains the scientific challenges in accurately measuring and verifying the greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledged by different countries, “Data can be viewed in different ways, depending on who you are representing. People being paid to develop certain data is a real thing in science, and that’s why as educators we try to teach people to be scientifically literate.”
Without the Paris Agreement, it will be difficult to ensure that the country is doing its part in meeting climate goals. The U.S. is the second-biggest source after China of the carbon pollution driving up global temperatures.
“I honestly think it is important as the Montreal Protocol was. The Montreal Protocol was huge, and it made a difference in our ozone layer and without that, I don’t think we would have gotten there, and without the Paris Accord, I don’t think we would push countries to get there. I don’t think there’s checks without it,” Fisher says.
Also, with the removal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, we can see censorship regarding the discourse about climate issues in schools. Ecology club (ECO Club) officer Sherlyn Philip (‘25) believes that “climate change should not be a controversial topic and should be taught in schools. There are tremendous amounts of evidence that proves climate change is a very serious issue and changing the way that schools. I don’t believe withdrawing from the Paris Agreement itself will change much about the way that climate change is taught, but the motive behind the withdrawal might.”
Greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise globally, from around 35 billion tons from when the agreement was initially adopted to more than 41 billion tons expected in 2024. Even though the United States is not remaining in the treaty anymore, there are many ways to help the climate through our individual actions.
“The main way students can engage in local actions is to advocate for climate policies and voting for people who will help and engage in tree planting or composting and sustainability initiatives,” Philip says.
Whether through policy advocacy, environmental education, or local protests, people can still make a difference in helping fight against climate change.
“We can hit the industry in their pockets to force change,” Fisher says.
