Climate Change Update: Trump’s Bonehead Decision
President Donald Trump last week declared that he would start the process of pulling the United States out of the international Paris Agreement to curtail climate change. Congrats! You’ve announced that you are boneheaded enough to say catastrophic heat waves, droughts, killer storms, and other looming disasters aren’t worth worrying about.
Business leaders, legislators from both parties, governors, mayors, and more rational heads of state wasted no time in calling Trump’s decision a mistake of the worst kind. Other nations, states, cities, and businesses reconfirmed their intentions to continue to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bring global heating under control.
North Carolina elected local leaders are among those declaring their support for continued action to address climate change.
The Trump decision makes no sense from the perspective of the American economy or American jobs. Solar power now employs more people here than electric generation from oil, gas, and coal combined. Jobs and income from coal will continue to decline regardless of the Trump decision, since coal is no longer economically competitive as an energy source compared to immediately available alternatives. Even existing coal power plants are being retired at an increasing pace.
While nothing the Trump Administration does can renew the shrinking coal industry, its efforts to reverse strong environmental and public health protection policies can undercut business investor confidence in solar and wind development here. That can slow development of these resources just when we need it to accelerate. Further, his senseless spurning of international cooperation to address this major global problem may well reduce international markets for American solar and wind expansion, losing jobs here in favor of companies elsewhere.
Even while climate change control efforts continue both in the United States and globally, the immediate result of Trump’s decision appears to be the undercutting of American influence on the direction of global policy in energy, environmental, and economic matters.
“President Trump has turned his back on America’s thriving clean energy industry and our health with this shortsighted decision. He must not realize that this is more about Paris, TX than Paris, France. The impacts of this politically-motivated decision will be felt in every American community, across the American economy and by every American child. Failure to act on climate change threatens our health, our security and our economy. This decision cedes American leadership and innovation to China, India and other countries who will take advantage of American workers by reaping the benefits of the clean energy economy while the United States stands idle,” said Carol M. Browner, Former EPA Administrator, Director of White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, and League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Board Chair.
Under the Paris Agreement signed by President Obama on behalf of the United States last year, the process of national withdrawal takes at least three years, plus another to implement. This guarantees that the issue of American international cooperation to deal with the crisis of climate change will continue to be a hot topic through the 2020 presidential campaign. If we make the right choices in that year’s elections, the United States will have the chance to correct Trump’s foolhardy decision on climate change.
Next, the U.S. Supreme Court calls for another look at state’s legislative district maps >>
