tv Tech Know Al Jazeera December 12, 2015 5:30pm-6:01pm EST
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we're not quite sure - >> is that an i.e.d.? >> religion. long the spiritual nourishment of the soul. now groundbreaking research on how it impacts the brain. >> because it's the biggest question out there. >> scientists analyzing the minds of believers. >> can you tell the difference between the brain of mother theresa versus a terrorist? >> you are watching aljazeera. i'm jonathan martin in new york and president obama is speaking and we are going to listen in. >> setting the world on a course of low carbon future. a few hours ago we succeeded. we have come together around the strong agreement that the world needed. we met the moment. i want to commend secretary
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general and the president for the leadership and hosting a successful summit and french foreign min stister and a thanko secretary john kerry and chief negotiator and everyone on the teams for their outstanding work and for making america proud. i also want to thank the people of 200 nations, large around maul small and developing and dwoling and working to together to confront a threat for people of all nations and we show what is possible as the world stands as one. the american people can be proud because this is a tribute to american leadership. over the past 7 years we have transformed the united states into a global leader in fighting climate change.
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in 2009 we helped to savage a summit. we then led by example with investments in growing industries like wind and solar and creating a stream of middle class jobs and set a standard to limit the amount of carbon pollution that the plants dump in the air that the children breathe, from alaska to the gulf coast to great plains we are partnering to protect from the immediate impacts of a changing climate. the skeptics said that the actions would kill jobs, instead we have seen the longest streak of job creation in history and driven the economics to all time
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highs. then what with the joint announcement with china it is possible to bridge the old divides between the developed and developing nations that stymid the global progress for so long. that earn courages dozens of nations to set a climate target and that was the foundation for success in paris. because no nation, not even one as power as ours can solve this challenge alone. no country no matter how small can sit on the sidelines, we have to solve it together. now, no agreement is perfect, including this one. negotiations that involve 200 nations are always challenging. even if all the initial targets set in paris are met we are only part of the way there reducing
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the carbon in the atmosphere. the problem is not solved because of this accord. the paris agreement establishes the enduring frame work that the world needs to solve the climate crisis. it is creating a way to tackle the problem in an effective way. this agreement is about aing biers and setting to a specific targets as we take into account the differences among the nations. we have transparency and reviews and assessments to help hold every country accountable for meeting the commitments as technology advances, this agreement allow the progress to pave the way for more ambitious targets over time. and we have secured a broader commitment to support the vulnerable countries as they
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pursue cleaner economic growth. in short, this agreement means less of the carbon pollution and more of the jobs and economic growth driven by the low carbon investments. full implementation is helping to avoid the worse of the climate change and paving the way for more progress in successive stages in the coming years. this agreement sends a power signal that the world is firmly committed to a low carbon future and that is has the potential unleash clean energy at a scale we have never seen before. the targets that we have set are bold and empowering the businesses, sciences, work eers engineers and the private sector, investors to work together this agreement represents the best chance they have to save the one planet this
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we have got. so i believe this moment can be a turning point for the world. we have shown that the world has the will and the ablth to take on this challenge. it won't be easy. progress won't always come quick. we cannot be come placement. while our generation will see some of the benefits, jobs created and money saved we may not live to real fullness of the achievement, today we can be more confident that the planet will be in a better shape nor the next generation. i imagine taking my grandparents if i am lucky to have some taking them to the park and watching the sunset and knowing our work today provided an alternative future that could
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have been grim. that our work here and now gave future generations gave cleaner air and water and more sustain >> planet. would could be more important than that? today thanks to strong principles to strong leadership that is a word we are going to leave to your children, more secure and more prosperous and more free. that is the mission here on earth. thanks. >> there you saw president obama speaking from the white house and calling this a huge agreement, calling this a turning point for america and ambitious agreement, really talking about some of the skeptics saying it is going to kill the jobs, but believes it is going to create jobs and
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bring us to a new point and change the world as he says. kourny, you have been looking at the reactions from the world leaders and the presidential front runners? >> yes, president obama, the most sus sinth thing he said is this a plan to save the planet. some saying this is the most difficult and complex negotiations they have been involved. john kerry was on the ground and shutting back and forth while president obama speaking to brazil and france, india and the chinese. go to the kerry side and what he had to say. this is a tremendous victory for all of our citizens. not for any one country or one block, for everyone here that
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worked so hard to bring us across the finish line. it is a victory for all of the planet and future generations and what we do next and implement the targets and build this agreement and build it out for the nations and strengthen it in the time ahead that will determine whether we are actually to address one of the most complex challenges that human kind ever faced. it is important, kocourtney, th delegates negotiating for two weeks. the french foreign minister asked for any objections and there was a quiet moment, and there had been nations that were a little skeptical, but as the president said, no nation could have set out on the sidelines and everyone had to come together. >> think of the optics, this is after the paris attacks and the talks almost cancelled and the
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world rallied around paris and now several weeks later, you have applause and agreement nearly 200 countries signed on to, like president obama said, developed countries, small nations, developing countries and committed to the terms of what they are carry out. it is incredible moment of world leaders too, and it is also likely to be the most incredible moment for president obama, especially with the struggles he's had. this has been a basic goal of his, a big goal, not just basic, but coming out of the other things he's grappling with, this is a historic agreement on climate change. >> i want to go over the details of the agreement. this really limited greesz house -- green house gas emissions. reviews the progress made every five years for these nations and
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developing countries will revooef a hundred billion dollars a year. so we are going to continue with. president obama expressed satisfaction with the deal, but he said it isn't perfect. take alisten again to what he had to say. all right. we don't have that. we are going to take a break and be right back. ack.
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carbon from the atmosphere. we cannot be come placement with the agreement, the problem is not solved because of this achord. make no mistake, the agreement establishes the enduring frame work that the world needs to solve the climate crisis. >> i read a quote, this deal is not going to save the planet but giving a chance to save the planet. >> yeah, the important part to remember about this agreement is that it is a frame work as the president said to support the action on climate change. this particular agreement is not going to solve climate change but provide the architecture to ratchet up the ambitious and reaching the targets that is outlined in the agreement. >> as we heard an accountability here, because o the nations have
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to give a progress report every five years? >> yes, that is a sticking important and lasted in the negotiations until the end, india pushing for review only ten years and the fact that we are, that the u.s. was successful in pushing for the five year means that we have increased the likelihood of ramping up the ambitious overnight, right now the country contributions are not to meeting this 2 degree target and we have to continue to ramp up the ambitiouses overtime and the five year reviews are critical. >> a lot of these talks going on for years, the u.n. tried to push this through, and what is different here we have all of the nakss participating, all the nations are part r participating. >> yes, look at the spirit in the room. the emotions are incredible.
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the countries tra drugs ally stymying in the past came out and endorsed the deal. china and india happy with the deal. the diversity of the countries coming to the table with different requirements and the things they want no the deal and they are all happy, this is showing it is a solid frame work. what is different this time, even today or when the negotiations and vote is taking place there seemed to be a little uncertainty. no one knew if this was going to go through and some of the nations not feeling comfortable with. >> hats off to french managing the diplomacy of this event and there was a lot of goodwill after the attacks in paris. but the fact that you look years
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ago at the agreement or lack of an agreement in copenhagen and the chaos until the end and not getting the agreement is because it was done in back rooms at 3:00 in the morning. the french made sure that everyone felt included in this process and it was a transparent process and the french foreign minister conducted the di mro ma si between the groups and making sure they were heard. the other part it recognizes domestic politics, the fact of having a global target and put put out of the obligations is not go toeing fly. what flying is everyone coming to the table with what is feasible for their own country. >> everyone today agrees this is a historic agreement and there are some folks not on board with
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this. we have seen the protesting happening in paris today. what are the concerns from those people and is it targeting the right populations? >> you know, i think, a good compromise is when not everyone is happy. it is incredible. there is a sense that mentioning the global targets of 1.5 and 2 degrees is not matched by the country's contributions so far. if you at up the countries propose what they are going to do, it is 3 degrees and yet the global targeting is one and a
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half to two. a lot of the groups are skepal. >> i read in the actual language much greater emission reduction is needed, so is acknowledgment of a huge gap there, that what happened today was great, but it is not good enough. yeah, i mean, the phrase that you have heard a lot, this is not the road to paris, it is the road through paris. the other thing to remember, the country contributions are not written in stone. they are written on paper. they can be revised and ramped up and that is where the pressure groups and society is important. there is not the same legal force on the contributions but the pressures from the groups from communities to green groups and business and industry will be critical in making sure to
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increase the country contributions over time. >> well, we have heard the president speak and he talked about everyone working to together. let's listen in. >> this agreement is ambitious with every nation setting and committing to their own specific targets, even as we take into account the differences among nations. we have a strong system of trarns pair si and reviews and asaysments to help hold every country accountable for meeting the commitments. as technology advances, this agreement allows progress to pave the way for more ambitious targets overtime. and we have secured a broader commitment to support the most vulnerable countries as they purr sigh cleaner economic growth. in short, this agreement will mean less of the carbon pollution that threatens our planet and more of the jobs and economic growth driven by the low carbon investment. o what do you think about
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meaning more jobs, not fewer? >> you know, i think that the u.s. is a leader in the renewable energy sector and right now there are more jobs in the u.s. that work in the renewable sector than coal, for example, and he made a really important point, which is per happens the most important long term legacy of this agreement is going to be the powerful signal that it gave to the market, to unleash innovation and other technologies and bring down the cost of clean energy technologies and more efficient technologies so that it is not just going to be the community targets that there will be, there will be a floor that the technologies will allow and allowing more ambitious and redo yousing the emissions by greater amounts. that is a power signal that the era of fossil fuels are coming
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to an end. >> this a legally binding agreement between the countries? >> it is. president obama and the administration have done a good job of threading the needle on this. it is legally binding in some sense, but it is not a treaty in the u.s. sense. it wouldn't get through the senate. he would need 67 votes in the senate for real treaty to go through. this pledge is not subjected to that and the authority that the paris agreement is coming from an existing treaty that the u.s. is already a party to. is senate doesn't have to sign off on that. >> interesting. thank you. we'll be right back with more on the historic global change agreement in paris. stay with us. us.
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america's first all-gun home shopping debt network will >> the climate summit if in paris is the discussion tonight. we have more on the deal and how many climate experts are skeptical it is going to effective. >> the general sense is that this will now spur on greater investment into clean energy and green alternatives to fossil fuels. having said that, we have to remember, we are hearing a range of opinions of sort that nick is reporting from paris earlier, there is a welcoming of the fact that the temperature rise is hopefully going to be limited to under 2 degrees and hopefully 1.5 degrees. but the key points are not legally binding.
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so there's no, nothing legally binding in this statement, in this deal that commits any country to reduce their emissions and despite what people are saying in paris, there is no money for developing countries, at least, there is a goal of a hundred million dollars for the developing countries, that is not legally binding either. so there is this range of opinions that we are hearing. janes hanson, a scientist that alerted the world to dangers of climate change is called it a fraud. it is a stronger word than that, but i can't use it on television. he's noted that the entire treaty or the agreement rather, not a treaty, no mention of fossil fuel in the thing. either you can say mur more of the say, this is the most they are willing to do, we'll use it
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to push and mobilize and making sure that the tofossil fuels ar stay in the ground. >> now to talk more about reaction in the u.s. and seeing and hearing a lot from the democratic side, not so much for from the republicans yet. yes t republican legislators and most of the republican party is openly skeptical of the climate science and so we are not getting a reaction right now, but we are getting a reaction from hillary clinton and bernie sanders and sanders criticized the deal. he said he release add statement from vermont saying while this is a step forward it is going nowhere near far enough and we need bolda and this does not provide that. meanwhile, his rival, insisted that the fight must go
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. we cannot afford to be slowed by the climate change skeptics or deferred by the defeatists. interestingly enough, a little bit of a difference between these two democratic presidential candidates. you have a lot of, you know, applause, the applause in paris and former vice president gore speaking of his grandchildren and you have now president obama speaking of his grandchildren if he's lucky enough and people applauding it. the science is tricky. the deal in itself is a frame work and setting up the architecture for this. but the people didn't talk about the 11th negotiations and what president obama did. when he spoke he didn't pat himself on the back to the calls he made to brazil, china and
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india and working from the french. that's quite interesting. >> a lot of overnight meeting and negotiations happening to lead to that very moment and seeing the tears, hugs and applause. >> what you saw was building from the historic agreement that chinese leader made with obama last year and the calls at the 1 # 11th hour and getting everyone on board as well. that is demro ma si and brinkman ship. >> certainly we'll have more coming up. thanks for joining us. we are back at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. >> you can watch tech know tomorrow here on al jazeera america.
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there is a new statute in the capitol of former vice al jazeera welcome to the news hour here in doha. coming up in the next 60 minutes. a landmark agreement on climate change nearly 200 countries pledged to lower greenhouse gas emissions. >> this agreement represents the best chance we have to save the one planet that we've got violence spirals in burundi. dozens are
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