President Barack Obama only has a little more than five months left in his final term, a period in which other two-term leaders have simply set themselves in neutral and coasted to the finish line. Even as his presidential approval rises and the economy improves, Obama has chosen a different path on his way out.On Saturday morning the world got more evidence of his decision to get as much done in the time he has left as the U.S. and China announced a major agreement to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.At a ceremony on the sidelines of a global economic summit, Obama and Xi, representing the world s two biggest carbon emitters, delivered a series of documents to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The papers certified the U.S. and China have taken the necessary steps to join the Paris accord that set nation-by-nation targets for cutting carbon emissions. This is not a fight that any one country, no matter how powerful, can take alone,  Obama said of the pact.  Some day we may see this as the moment that we finally decided to save our planet. Other countries need to sign on to the agreement, but America and China are the two most consequential. Both countries are responsible for 38 percent of man-made carbon emissions in the entire world. By making this agreement, the two nations are setting the tone for everyone else.Climate change, which has been verified by scientific study after scientific study, is still rejected by Republicans who are compromised by donations from big business. The current Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, takes this opposition to science even further with his conspiracy theory that climate change is a completely made up idea from the Chinese government.President Obama has embraced science, as have most Democrats   including Hillary Clinton. Instead of twiddling his thumbs as the situation worsens, he s chosen to do something towards the end of his presidency about a critical issue. He isn t done. Not yet.Featured image via Flickr