President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States will leave the Paris Agreement, making the U.S. now one of just three countries in the world not participating in the climate deal. Scientists have long warned of the negative effects of climate change, including more droughts, stronger hurricanes, and an ice-free Arctic. As evidenced by Trump’s announcement, though, the magnitude of these dangers have yet to sink in for some. Below are some of the basic trends driving the concern around a heating globe.
While some U.S. cities and states have pledged to keep the Paris Agreement, the country as a whole remains one of the largest producers of carbon emissions per capita in the world:
Those emissions have, in turn, created a dramatic rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels:
Increased atmospheric pollution has caused temperatures to rise around the globe:
And increased temperatures have contributed to rapidly rising sea levels:
Trump said on Thursday he would be willing to consider a different deal that was more fair to the U.S., but European countries have already signaled that the Paris accord can’t be renegotiated.
