Last Tuesday was the (non-binding, but encouraged) deadline for countries to file their individual strategies to combat global warming ahead of the global summit on climate change in Paris this November. Of the 32 countries submitting plans to the United Nations, most (28) are part of the European Union. The United States has pledged to slash emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025; last Tuesday, the White House outlined its plans to achieve that goal by halting construction on coal-fired power plants, reducing the number of methane leaks from the oil and gas industry, and encouraging automakers to increase fuel economy. The goal of the summit in Paris is to find a way to keep the Earth’s temperature from climbing 2 degrees celsius (3.6 degrees fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average. When it comes to this early “deadline” for how each nation will reduce, there are a number of notable omissions: Australia, Canada, Japan, and China—the world’s largest to contributor...