As 2015 became the first year on record to be, on average, more than one degree warmer than in pre-industrial times, this fact was not lost on american presedential candidates. Not one to let an opportunity pas by, Donald Trump quickly assured voters that if he was elected president, he would quickly change this. "In the last hundred years, and with a coordinated international effort, we only managed one degree. If I am president, I promise you that we will reach two degrees before my first term is over!"
Other candidates were quick to retaliate. Some criticised Trump's statement, saying that it would be impossible to reach the two-degree mark in less than four years in a "sustainable way", arguing that even if Trump managed the feat, temperatures would plummet again shortly afterwards, maybe even below the one-degree mark they had fought so hard to achieve. Jeb Bush said he was working on a long-term plan to suprass the two-degree mark, and that, if America was made great again, "the sky will be the limit".
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, said that immigrants would be necessary to provide a new influx of human capital that was vital to any prolonged warming, and that the republican candidates' refusal to accept this made their proposals irrealistic, if not utterly ridiculous.
After two weeks of back-and-forth, candidates were kindly informed that the goal was to reduce global temperatures, but by then it was too late. United for once, they criticised the scientific and ecological community for not being able to "think outside the box". And climate change remained one of the main subjects of the election campaign.
Not all hope is lost however, as one reader pointed out. "Seeing the track record of politicians, and how they deliver on their campaign promises, this might just be what we need to stop global warming."
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