Only a few hours after the US pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement, 11,000 scientists from 153 countries warned that the climate crisis can bring untold ills to humanity.

The timing of the statement does not only expose the architect of the US departure: Donald Trump. It also makes the US superpower confront its responsibilities.

What will Congress do? How will political parties and citizens react? Will they passively look on as their president pushes the planet toward disaster thus threatening their own lives?

The question is not theoretical. Despite the symbolism of the US departure, the US is one of the largest polluters in the world.

The US is the biggest cogwheel among the 197 countries that signed on to the agreement so as to make it functional.

China and France quite rightly expressed their intense consternation over the decision of the White House.

The scientific community quite rightly is not mincing its words. Thousands of scientists are saying the situation is urgent and that climate change is advancing more rapidly than they believed in the past.

That means that there is no time to waste.