Obama's Last 100 Days: US' Climate Change Movements Becoming More Questionable

On the countdown of US President's Obama's regime, recent report has underscored the current Administration's performance and "Business-As-Usual" undertakings despite commitments and pledge given to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Disclosing records, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) declared that the Obama Administration has already offered more than 250 Million acres of land and offshore for lease to companies for coal, oil and gas extraction.

“Ultimately, if we’re going to prevent large parts of this
Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitablein our lifetimes, we’re going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky.”
--Obama, Statement of the President on Keystone XL Pipeline

President Obama was known to be a figure who encourages climate change actions and promotes environmental sustainability. His decisions such as pledging on the international climate agreement held in Paris last year which meant cutting down US emissions to hep attain the less than 2 degree Celsius of global temperature increase, cancellation of numerous drilling leases for offshore oil and gas extraction and freezing of lease for federal coal were astonishing enough for the world. During his administration, it was also the first attempt ever that a regulation on methane use from hydraulic fracturing was put forth.

But according to the report of RAN, despite the positive actions of President Obama towards environmental aspects, the figures and records of the administration's ativities do not match with the President's campaign. In fact, the US' BAU despite the country's commitments greatly offsets the President's efforts on climate change.

Read: Rainforest Alliance Network Report

By the numbers, Obama's Administration has leased 15, 004, 773 acres for offshore oil and gas extraction; 10, 216, 229 acres for onshore oil and gas extraction; and for coal, 46, 008 acres. As RAN cited the findings of EcoShift Consulting, if the president can be bold enough to freeze all the leasing on federall managed areas, 450 Billion tons of carbon can be kept intact, under the ground which translates into 25% cutdown on US' emissions in a year.

“By signing the Paris Climate Agreement, President Obama agreed to protect future generations from climate chaos. Instead, he has continued to auction off hundreds of millions of acres to drill, frack, and mine in our oceans and public lands—devastating communities and jeopardizing our chances at climate stability. It’s now time to truly follow through on this commitment by ending these lease sales, and tip the scales in favor of the planet and the people impacted by these dirty fuels,” RAN Senior Campaigner Ruth Breech explained in a press release.