'We are in a race against time:' 175 nations sign landmark climate accord

'The power of this agreement is the opportunity that it creates.'

World leaders have finally realized the destruction they have been allowing the planet to endure - and the ensuing consequences.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A shocking number of 175 global leaders gathered at the United Nations headquarters to sign the Paris climate accord in a move to save the world.

Literally.

Though it is currently unknown whether the plan will work, the fact that a plan is underway - and leaders are coming together to support it - is most definitely a step in the right direction.

As The LA Times explained, this March has been the warmest on record, with scientists expecting next year to beat this year's record.

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, stated, "We are in a race against time."

We certainly are.

Green groups have been calling for change for decades, but it took years of record-highs and scientific report after report to indicate climate change and global warming might be harmful to humanity.

When 175 nations signed the agreement in Paris, they took the first step to making the accord an international law. Unfortunately, to make it law, at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions must formally approve the accord within their national governments - a process which can take until 2017.

U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry believes the United States will join the agreement this year, by executive action, and noted, "The power of this agreement is the opportunity it creates.

"The power is the message that it sends to the marketplace. It is the unmistakable signal that innovation, entrepreneurial activity, the allocation of capital, the decisions that governments make, all of this is what we know definitively is what is going to define the new energy future."

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