The Paris Agreement is 31 pages of climate change agreement. It focuses, primarily, around two degrees Celsius, and doing our best to keep the average global temperature from rising those two degrees Celsius more than it already has. Many argue that the two-degree goal is too low, that making that goal now is too little too late but it's a first step in the right direction. It took weeks in December of 2015 to hammer out this 31-page agreement, then US President, Barack Obama, was heavily involved in these negotiations. Fast forward two years, to 2017 the present, and now US President Donald Trump has drawn out of the agreement. Which was a huge mistake, and here's why.

It should be noted that Syria and Nicaragua are two countries that did not sign the accords. Syria because of war and Nicaragua because they did not believe it went far enough.

One of the reasons Trump stated as to why he drew out of the agreement was because it was bad for the US economy. But in the Canadian province of British Columbia, a Carbon tax was introduced and reduced fossil fuels by 20% compared to the rest of Canada and all the while their GDP grew at the same rate as the rest of the country. There is not a lot of evidence that says that reducing emissions can directly cause an economy to go downwards.

Another is that coal jobs would disappear. Now, there is truth to this. If America was to implement the Paris Agreement the coal industry would take a hit. And no, that would not be fair to the 'coal country' of America or the men and women who would lose their jobs as a result. But it is undeniable that coal is a thing of the past. It is President Trump's job to address the needs of the United States of America environmentally and economically. He needs to see that coal is hurting the environment and if he were to take jobs away from coal minors he would need to introduce new jobs to those communities. That might sound like a far-fetched idea but it is not as unrealistic a plan as reducing the effect coal emissions will have on the environment after the fact. Green energy is actually an industry of its own, it will bring in jobs and investment opportunities.

Another reason Trump did not like this agreement was because of the amount of money America was expected to fork over. To be fair it's a heavy price. But when you really look at the facts it is necessary. The United States of America take a lot of responsibilities in the Paris Agreement because it is a stable wealthy country, and it got that way, in part, by using fossil fuels and polluting this green earth. The money America was asked to give would benefit poorer countries that signed the agreement. Countries that have emitted very little emissions but will most likely bear the brunt of global warming because of food insecurities and poor infrastructure.

The United States was not the only country expected to pour a substantial amount of money into the accords. Other wealthy countries of the world earned their place in the world using fossil fuels as well. It is not fair to say to these poorer countries that they cannot use the same methods to grow their economies. The money these wealthy countries would amass in the Paris Agreement would, in part, go to these poorer countries to help grow their economies in other ways, to give them a real fighting chance without further polluting the earth.

One of the most notable reasons Trump should not have taken America out of the Paris Agreement is because some of America has chosen to agree to it anyways. Hawaii's governor, David Ige, signed bills that aim to lower the state's emissions in an alignment with the guidelines set in the Paris Agreement after President Trump made his announcement. This should not come as a surprise, Hawaii will be one of the first places in America to be negatively affected by global warming. There are several other places in America that will suffer the consequences of global warming, one most notably is Trump's mansion Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

So far at least twelve states and Puerto Rico have become members of the U.S. Climate Alliance and at least ten states and Washington D.C. have pledged to follow the Paris Agreement. Also, mayors from 274 cities have signed the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda. There are very few states that do not have any of the above agreements made within them. In fact, Jerry Brown, Governer of California, will actually meet with the President of China, Xi Jinping, to talk about how these individual states can do their best to reduce their emissions. China has become a leader in the Paris Agreement after the United States dropped out and California was one of the first states to join Hawaii to agree to the U.S. Climate Alliance.

Not only should Donald Trump have not taken America out of the Paris Agreement it is somewhat likely that it won't make much of a difference as apparently most of America values the environment.