Conybeare, W. (2023, August 4). California partnering with Chinese province to fight climate change. Retrieved August 3, 2023 from https://ktla.com/news/california/california-partnering-with-chinese-province-to-fight-climate-change/
This article is a news article from a press release from the Governor’s office about how California is partnering with the Chinese Province of Hainan to fight climate change. Both partners committed to cutting air pollution, developing carbon neutrality plans, advancing clean energy, and accelerating zero emission vehicles. In a quote from Governor Newsome, he outlined that despite our distance, both nations, although vastly different, are striving to leave this planet better than we found it.
Hainan is one of the smallest provinces in China and it’s unclear if the Governor has the legal authority to make a deal like this given the tension between the two counties. This is likely an announcement to help Newsom politically and so China can show good efforts but nothing is likely to come out of this agreement as no direct plan of action was outlined. As the article explores a collaborative effort between two regions working to address the global environmental impact of climate change, the agreement is not legally binding so either side could back out at any time without penalty. California previously announced similar agreements with Canada, New Zealand, and Japan. California itself is one of the world’s largest economies and this pact with Hainan shows that California has the economic power to advance climate change with other countries. It also shows the political interest in this issue such that it got the Governor’s attention. He can now be seen on the world stage helping climate change. While very symbolic, there is value in keeping the issue at the forefront in the media and his political agenda.
I agree with you, At the same time our state is now looking at ways to try to fix the climate change problem and how it really affects our ecosystem. What are other ways that people can contribute to this?
Thanks for reading. At first glance, limiting our greenhouse gas emmisions and our footprint can mitigate these effects for both countries.
I like the analysis you provided of this article and I think pushing solutions for climate change through pacts with all countries regardless of our prior relations with them is important. Do you think that America and/or California will continue to make these pacts with other countries?
Thanks for reading. I think they will absolutely but only time will tell if these pacts are strictly political or actually mean something.