I'm writing this from a Canadian perspective (and I'm also one of the over 60 crowd mentioned earlier), but what any government does re climate affects the whole planet, and the American contribution is big.
So, re climate change, too many things to quote . . .
Shifting baselines - kids growing up in the Sudbury region at the height of the Inco emissions thought it was normal to play in a moonscape. As adults they have told me it seems odd to see the area as efforts are made to re-green it.
- when I was a kid, ice storms were rare and amazing. We had the odd mild ice storm over the years, but of course 1998 was the year we had three ice storms in 5 days and most of eastern Ontario and western Quebec, plus upper New York state, lost power for weeks. I do mean weeks, we were out for 3 weeks and we had friends out for longer. We have had lots of ice storms since then, just not so close together and so devastating. This winter was not super cold but we had ice storm after ice storm plus lots of snow. Ice storms are the new normal.
Ticks - we always had dog ticks, along with mosquitoes, black flies, deer flies and horse flies. Now we have deer ticks. The incidence of Lyme disease has gone from almost zero to hundreds, according to the Eastern Ontario Health Unit. In Carp, west of Ottawa, over 50% of ticks tested are Lyme carriers.
Seasons - springs are coming later and fall seems to be lasting longer. I see farmers planting much later in the season than they did when I moved here 10 years ago, because of our colder wetter springs. This year with all the snow (especially in the Northern part of the drainage basin) we had heavy flooding along the Ottawa River. 2017 was considered a super bad flood year, this year was worse.
Summers are hotter - 30 used to be considered really hot here. Now we can easily go over a week at a time in the mid-30s. This may not seem that hot, but it also means really humid weather.
So, I am over 60, and I can say that the climate is definitely changing. I talked with a meteorologist many years ago and he said that the second half of the 20th century was one of the most stable (and fairly benign) climate periods in centuries. We got spoiled and complacent.
And since this is a politics thread, the Senate, with so many Conservatives appointed by Harper, has introduced over 200 amendments to Bill C-69 (our new Environmental Protection Bill) which basically gut it. Harper's government had gutted our previous EPA, and this Liberal bill would have restored most (not all) of the parts that got gutted. I should point out for the Americans here that the old Progressive Conservative Party wasn't bad on environmental issues, in fact a PC government under Brian Mulroney* introduced the first Canadian EPA. But these Conservatives take their playbook from the American Republicans.
*For those of you old enough, it was PM Mulroney who did that famous duet with President Reagan of
When Irish Eyes are Smiling ("Shamrock Summit", 1985). Can you imagine President Trump doing something like that?
https://www.facebook.com/QonCBCRadio/videos/brian-mulroney-and-ronald-reagan-sing-when-irish-eyes-are-smiling/1802466916476089/