Obama administration gives $500 million to UN climate change fund - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691110][I]funding more research to prove man-made climate change exists,[/I][/QUOTE] Why should money be wasted on proving something that is already agreed on by the vast majority of the scientific community when that money can actually go towards counteracting what's already been proven?

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691190]Our best tool to reach out to these people is scientific data[/QUOTE] Since when has scientific data been able to convince people they are wrong?

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691190]Source says this was a planned investment and had nothing to do with Trump. That said, climate change and Trump isn't even my problem, it's that Obama has once again entirely bypassed Congress to spend public funds. That is wrong, and it emboldens future administrators to do the same. I am not a skeptic and you are intentionally missing the point. I believe climate change is real. Do I think it's caused or can be fixed by humanity? Not as much. I'm sure you understand that there are people far less accepting than I am, though. Our best tool to reach out to these people is scientific data, and what I am saying is that this money would have been better used as part of a Congressional program to fund such research.[/QUOTE] If our best tool were scientific data, you wouldn't be questioning whether climate change is caused by humans or not. Science is hard, so hard that generally the general public doesn't question it, but in this specific case it has huge implications for how we should spend our money, and suddenly everyone and their mom are capable of critically analysing scientific conclusions - or at least they think they are.

[QUOTE=JXZ;51691245]Since when has scientific data been able to convince people they are wrong?[/QUOTE] uh we have computers and technology so i guess some people did changed their minds

[QUOTE=Fourier;51691249]uh we have computers and technology so i guess some people did changed their minds[/QUOTE] I think he's trying to say that there are an awful lot of people out there who are so disconnected from reality that not even scientific fact will convince them.

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691190]Source says this was a planned investment and had nothing to do with Trump. That said, climate change and Trump isn't even my problem, it's that Obama has once again entirely bypassed Congress to spend public funds. That is wrong, and it emboldens future administrators to do the same. I am not a skeptic and you are intentionally missing the point. I believe climate change is real. Do I think it's caused or can be fixed by humanity? Not as much. I'm sure you understand that there are people far less accepting than I am, though. Our best tool to reach out to these people is scientific data, and what I am saying is that this money would have been better used as part of a Congressional program to fund such research.[/QUOTE] If your position, as it is now, that climate change is not anthropological, then there is nothing that will ever convince you of that. The facts are there. There is literally no disputing them. Climate change is real, and it's man made. You can say that isn't so until you die, but it is the case and it's super, super surreal to have people literally denying scientific fact out of what makes them uncomfortable. It's clear you don't really take it that seriously.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;51691430]If your position, as it is now, that climate change is not anthropological, then there is nothing that will ever convince you of that. The facts are there. There is literally no disputing them. Climate change is real, and it's man made. You can say that isn't so until you die, but it is the case and it's super, super surreal to have people literally denying scientific fact out of what makes them uncomfortable. It's clear you don't really take it that seriously.[/QUOTE] I can't even tell if you care about the issue anymore. Are you intentionally missing the point too? Is the personal angle too lucrative? Let me make it as clear as possible: [URL="https://cei.org/content/obama-administration-disregards-congress-gives-500-million-un-climate-fund"]Obama is spending public funds without Congressional approval[/URL] [URL="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/07/green-climate-fund-where-big-banks-profit-again-crisis-they-helped-create"]on a corrupt private organization with no accountability or oversight.[/URL]

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691581]I can't even tell if you care about the issue anymore. Are you intentionally missing the point too? Is the personal angle too lucrative? Let me make it as clear as possible:[/QUOTE] nah man, do you think climate change is man-made or not

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691581]I can't even tell if you care about the issue anymore. Are you intentionally missing the point too? Is the personal angle too lucrative? Let me make it as clear as possible: [URL="https://cei.org/content/obama-administration-disregards-congress-gives-500-million-un-climate-fund"]Obama is spending public funds without Congressional approval[/URL] [URL="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/07/green-climate-fund-where-big-banks-profit-again-crisis-they-helped-create"]on a corrupt private organization with no accountability or oversight.[/URL][/QUOTE] It's from the state department's budget. He's well within his right to do this. The issue was brought up during the last budget and the republicans dropped efforts to cut it's funding. So this is where the 500mn comes from.

[QUOTE=Morgen;51691879]It's from the state department's budget. He's well within his right to do this. The issue was brought up during the last budget and the republicans dropped efforts to cut it's funding. So this is where the 500mn comes from.[/QUOTE] It absolutely was brought up in the last budget, and Congress specifically said no. So what did the President do? [URL="http://dailysignal.com/2016/05/23/obama-raided-500m-for-zika-to-finance-uns-green-climate-fund/"]He pulled the money from our national Zika fund.[/URL] It might just be within his rights, but there is clearly an intent to bypass Congress here. I don't think the President should be let off the hook for disregarding our elected representatives like this.

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691899]words[/QUOTE] do you think climate change is man-made

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691899]It absolutely was brought up in the last budget, and Congress specifically said no. So what did the President do? [URL="http://dailysignal.com/2016/05/23/obama-raided-500m-for-zika-to-finance-uns-green-climate-fund/"]He pulled the money from our national Zika fund.[/URL] It might just be within his rights, but there is clearly an intent to bypass Congress here. I don't think the President should be let off the hook for disregarding our elected representatives like this.[/QUOTE] You keep linking random sources about the first payment rather than this one. I like this bit though: [QUOTE]The U.N. Green Climate Fund is connected to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an affiliated organization of the United Nations. The UNFCCC recently accepted the “State of Palestine” as a signatory, which should trigger a U.S. funding prohibition. U.S. law forbids any taxpayer dollars to fund international organizations that recognize “Palestine” as a sovereign state.[/QUOTE] :what: Even Trump's secretary of state, the bloody CEO of ExxonMobil supports this.

[QUOTE=Morgen;51691969]You keep linking random sources about the first payment rather than this one.[/QUOTE] Mis-linked the first statement. [URL="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/final-days-obama-sends-another-500-million-un-climate-fund-trump-has"]This was what I intended to post[/URL]. Second link refers to GCF broadly. Third illustrates how Obama orchestrated the first payment from last year's budget. Forgive me; we all get our tabs mixed up sometimes.

[QUOTE=Chonch;51692051]Mis-linked the first statement. [URL="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/final-days-obama-sends-another-500-million-un-climate-fund-trump-has"]This was what I intended to post[/URL]. Second link refers to GCF broadly. Third illustrates how Obama orchestrated the first payment. Forgive me; we all get our tabs mixed up sometimes.[/QUOTE] So you're telling me the funds came from the economic support fund, which is intended to support foreign developing countries? Obama is funding foreign green programs in developing countries through an approved foreign funding program. The horror...

[QUOTE=Morgen;51692093]So you're telling me the funds came from the economic support fund, which is intended to support foreign developing countries? Obama is funding foreign green programs in developing countries through an approved foreign funding program. The horror...[/QUOTE] This is where the second link comes in. This is not funding a developing country, this is funding the GCF, which in turn throws money at fossil-fuel-funded corporations like Deutsche Bank and rich UN countries that can afford accreditations regardless of whatever contribution they might be making to the problem. Not only is there a bureaucracy in the way of foreign aid, but also a paywall. Put the pieces together in your mind.

[QUOTE=Chonch;51692121]This is where the second link comes in. This is not finding a developing country, this is funding the GCF, which in turn throws money at fossil-fuel-funded corporations like Deutsche Bank and rich UN countries that can afford accreditations regardless of whatever contribution they might be making to the problem. Not only is there a bureaucracy in the way of foreign aid, but also a paywall. Put the pieces together in your mind.[/QUOTE] I'll agree that the GCF has done a few bad things but they have also helped out a lot of local projects throughout Africa, which your source seems to neglect. Overall the fund has a positive impact but should be careful not to back certain entities.

[QUOTE=Chonch;51691110]What for? [URL="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/obama-3b-un-climate-fund-smart-investment-us-make"]Congress did not authorize any bit of the $1bn that's now been contributed.[/URL] This might very well be illegal. I'll cut Obama some slack when he cuts a refund check to the Treasury.[/QUOTE] It's absolutely not illegal and this isn't the first time Obama has done this. The money is coming from the Economic Support Fund which Congress approved of in 2010 and with which the President has discretion. Bush did this too only with a [URL="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/02/climatechange.html"]much smaller amount. [/URL] What Congress didn't authorize is what your source actually said, the ratification of the Paris treaty and a continued $3 billion in payments that was promised in 2014. I'm thinking Obama was counting on Hillary winning in 2016. Now that she hasn't, Trump can come in and not spend a dime of it. [editline]19th January 2017[/editline] Oh I should have read the rest of the page, you have changed your argument from "Obama can't do this" to "the GCF is bad"