Gov. Inslee: Washington pushing ahead on ways to cut carbon emissions

jay-inslee

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord isn’t keeping Washington from trying to meet those goals or its governor from joining world leaders to discuss strategy.

Speaking earlier this week from Germany, where he’s taking part in the U.N. Climate Change Conference, Governor Jay Inslee said other countries are either laughing at or ignoring Trump’s comments that cast doubt on human effects on climate change.  Inslee said climate change was one of the issues in a suburban King County legislative race, helping Democrat Manka Dhingra win and costing Republicans control of the state Senate.

At various times before and after he became a presidential candidate, Trump called climate change a hoax.  Later he said the climate is changing but that it’s occurring naturally.  Earlier this year as president, he announced the United States was withdrawing from an agreement signed by most nations to reduce carbon
emissions.

Inslee has been a longtime watchdog of climate change and a proponent of reducing carbon emissions.  Washington has joined with 14 other states and one American territory in what’s called the U.S. Climate Alliance, pledging to maintain the requirements of the Paris agreement.  Several of those states’ governors, including Inslee, attended the conference in Germany.

Washington also is part of the International Ocean Acidification Alliance, with Iceland, Sweden, and New Zealand. (Spokesman-Review)

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