{"id":6616,"date":"2017-06-02T08:30:29","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T14:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6616"},"modified":"2017-06-06T17:32:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T23:32:57","slug":"climate-culture-principles-company-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/06\/climate-culture-principles-company-syria.html","title":{"rendered":"Climate, Culture, Principles, And “In the Company of Syria”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/pollution-global-warming-environment-2049211\/\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this e-mail finds you well.\u201d<\/p>\n

How many of your e-mails start that way? \u00a0Probably not many, unless, like me, you work with colleagues across the globe, in which case, quite a few. \u00a0It\u2019s the e-mail equivalent of a cultural imperative that all interactions, and, in particular, business dealings, must start with extended inquiries into the health and well-being of each party and their families. \u00a0And it\u2019s just one of a number of ways in which our American culture differs from many others, differences that get lost in the emphasis on the notion of multiculturalism \u2014 that is, the idea that we are a nation of many cultures makes us blind to the fact that there is, deeper down, an American culture.<\/p>\n

And it seems to me that the reason why the United States has rejected the Paris Accord on climate change is a cultural one. \u00a0Oh, sure, you might say that the rejection is because Trump is evil and wants to destroy the planet in the name of short-term profits for American businesses, but, when\u00a0Obama signed the agreement in 2016, he did not submit it to the Senate for ratification. \u00a0To be sure, the Senate was GOP-controlled so doing so wouldn\u2019t have had any practical effect, but neither\u00a0did Obama make any push for a binding agreement during the years when the Democrats controlled House, Senate, and the presidency.<\/p>\n

Beyond which, it\u2019s my understanding that the agreement itself is fundamentally a declaration of \u201cgood intentions.\u201d \u00a0As described by The American Interest<\/a>\u00a0and Commentary<\/a> magazine,\u00a0the targets for reductions are set by countries themselves, and can be changed at any time, without any sort of external enforcement mechanism. \u00a0Secondly, the Green Climate Fund does not have (so far as I can tell) any power to compel any country or other entity to had over the cash that\u2019s supposed to go to poor countries (who, buy the way, have nothing to lose in signing the agreement, since they are intended to be recipients of the funds, not contributors).<\/p>\n

And, indeed, the United States is nearly alone<\/a>, in the company only of Syria and Nicaragua, in not signing the agreement.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the only such case.<\/p>\n

The United Sates is the only country to have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Clinton signed in 1995.<\/p>\n

The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (SEDAW)? \u00a0Only the\u00a0Holy See, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Tonga have not signed it; the U.S. and Palau are the only ones who have signed but not ratified it (the U.S. under Carter, in July of 1980; see Wikipedia<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Convention on Rights of Persons With Disabilities? \u00a0Here\u2019s that list: \u00a0US, Libya, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Chad, Cameroon, Botswana, Solomon Islands, Fiji have signed but not ratified, South Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Equatorial Guinea have not signed. \u00a0(Per the UN site.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why has the U.S. not ratified these agreements?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to find individual explanations: \u00a0the Convention on the Rights of the Child takes away parental rights, might prohibit homeschooling, etc. \u00a0CEDAW could prohibit even the moderate abortion restrictions we have in the U.S., eliminate single-sex schools, would require quotas on the hiring of women, and so on.<\/p>\n

But consider that Saudi Arabia, despite its notorious \u201cguardian\u201d system, has ratified CEDAW. \u00a0North Korea, which imprisons whole families, has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. \u00a0And if I weren\u2019t already running out of time to start my workday, I\u2019d find a really good example of a country which does really dastardly things to the disabled.<\/p>\n

And beyond these specific examples, every other country that has signed it has taken the view that, to whatever extent they disagree with any aspect of the application of the Convention, they\u2019ll go their own way, and it\u2019s no big deal. \u00a0(With respect to the Paris Accord, I would guess that the other signatories had a similar view: \u00a0we\u2019ll make the decisions that we think are best for our people, and try to get as much benefit out of the deal as possible.) \u00a0What, then, is the point of signing these conventions? \u00a0To some degree, it\u2019s a matter of taking an action to further their resolve to Do the Right Thing; in other cases, it\u2019s purely about asserting on the world stage that you\u2019re just as good and righteous as everyone else, no matter the truth at home. \u00a0To some degree, there is also the hope that any given nation that signs\/ratifies will then have greater moral standing and a specific platform from which they can effect change in nations that are deficient in their treatment of children, women, the disabled.<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t the U.S. ratify them? \u00a0In the same way as we don\u2019t ask whether every member of your family is doing well before getting down to business. \u00a0We focus on the practical, the concrete, and don\u2019t see the same value in\u00a0the aspirational and symbolic (or, as critics would say, the farcical claims of success) \u2014 we ask, how, concretely, will this ratification affect the people at home? \u00a0Consider, too, the fact that in certain cultures\u00a0(I\u2019ve read this of various Asian countries), Americans have trouble doing business because, culturally, their counterparts just will not say \u201cno\u201d<\/em>, leading the Americans to think they\u2019ve made the deal, when, in reality, our American culture of a straightforward \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cno\u201d is not a part of how they do business. \u00a0We want an Agreement, a Treaty, to have a clear path, a practical impact, and enforceable consequences, when much of the rest of the world just doesn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

(It reminds me a bit of two views of marriage: \u00a0the U.S. says the equivalent of \u201cmarriage is a serious binding commitment\u201d; the ROW says, \u201cmarriage is a piece of paper that\u2019ll show everyone else how much we love each other, make everyone like us more, and maybe get us some benefits.\u201d)<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m not saying American culture is right or wrong on this point. \u00a0But it\u2019s different. \u00a0And this has nothing to do with climate change.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image:\u00a0https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/pollution-global-warming-environment-2049211\/<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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