We withdraw from the Paris accord the day after the election. November 4, 2020.

I didn't see this anywhere in the US media or in any campaign ads for any Democratic candidates, which seems weird to me; I found it on The Guardian's website. It's just a coincidence, but what a powerful reminder that elections matter.

I know our lives are a distracting, chaotic, clanging clusterf*** right now, but wow, what a way to make the importance of the election salient for anybody who's thinking of casting a protest vote for Kanye or any other third-party candidate.

The lifetime of the Paris agreement, signed in a wave of optimism in 2015, has seen the five hottest years ever recorded on Earth, unprecedented wildfires torching towns from California to Australia, record heatwaves baking Europe and India and temperatures briefly bursting beyond 100F (38C) in the Arctic.

These sorts of impacts could be a mere appetizer, scientists warn, given they have been fueled by levels of global heating that are on track to triple, or worse, by the end of the century without drastic remedial action. The faltering global effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions and head off further calamity hinges, in significant part, on whether the US decides to re-enter the fray.

“The choice of Biden or Trump in the White House is huge, not just for the US but for the world generally to deal with climate change,” said Stern. “If Biden wins, November 4 is a blip, like a bad dream is over. If Trump wins, he seals the deal. The US becomes a non-player and the goals of Paris become very, very difficult. Without the US in the long term, they certainly aren’t realistic.”

snip

Hakon Saelen, an environmental economist at the University of Oslo who led the study, said the US withdrawal is a “significant major blow” to the mitigation of the climate crisis. “The world cannot afford any delay if the 2C target is to be reached,” he said. “Our model indicates that the chance of reaching it is very low already, but near zero with another Trump term.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/27/global-climate-fight-could-be-lost-trump-re-elected

In other words, without being hyperbolic or hysterical... if Trump steals this election, the entire planet is literally doomed.