ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that warming is accelerating much faster than scientists had predicted. It explores the possibility that Americans do not "get" the United Nations (UN) framework, which, although it is a legal framework, is based on commitments to cooperate and a shared trust that other countries will do the same. The chapter considers the possibility that Americans do not understand the seriousness of climate change. It is possible that Americans do not "get" the idea of collaboration because collaboration does not match America's conception that an international order is based on the pursuit of national self-interest, within a framework of laws, and not with a spirit of cooperation. The chapter shows that Americans do not realize that important UN treaties, laws and agreements are legal documents–including, for example, human rights treaties, the UN Charter, the Kyoto Protocol, Convention Related to the Status of Refugees, and the Paris Agreement.
