The world is now in the sad position where Barack Obama has to beg Donald Trump not to destroy progress on climate change.
Obama made the point that the market is fueling the move toward wind and solar power and creating jobs in both industries. He said that utilities around the country are installing more and more solar panels and that individual states, such as California, have aggressively cut carbon emissions without any push from the federal government. In addition, automakers are exceeding government fuel efficiency standards, he said.
“Even states like Texas that politically tend to oppose me, you’ve seen huge increases in wind power and solar power,” Obama said. “You’ve got some of the country’s biggest companies, like Google and Walmart, all pursuing energy efficiency because it’s good for their bottom line.”
That’s all true. But what’s also true is that Trump has completely internalized every facet of the right’s assault on the environment. He hates windmills because he feels like they spoiled the view at one of his golf courses. As a result, Trump frequently repeats conspiracy theories about wind not only decimating bird populations but damaging health from “ultrasounds.” Trump encourages more drilling for oil and gas—even though supply exceeds demand—and brags about bringing back coal—even though there’s no market for it—simply because he believes that anything “green” is automatically bad. He’s even convinced that power saving lightbulbs cause cancer.
Though it’s far from likely, Trump may let some part of Obamacare stand. He may not get around to deporting as many people as he claimed at rallies. Even Trump’s wall may exist only in a virtual sense.
But Trump will get right on with wrecking the environment. Because he wants it, and because Republicans of all stripes are eager to help.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has called the notion of man-made climate change a “hoax,” has vowed to “cancel” the U.S. role in the international Paris climate accord signed last year. The United States and China have been leaders in committing to the agreement and in convincing other countries, both developed and developing, to make pledges toward the shared goal of trying to keep global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
In theory, approval of the accord has been pushed forward, expressly to prevent the chance of someone like Trump coming in and rolling it back.
France's President Francois Hollande says Paris climate deal is 'irreversible.'
But it won’t matter. Trump doesn’t have to tear up the Paris Accord. He only has to ignore it.
On President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, Trump’s route is even easier. Several states have already sued to prevent implementation of the plan. All Trump needs to do is halt the federal government’s defense.
Just the election of Trump is likely to make other nations, including China, take the reduction of greenhouse gases less seriously. The Paris accord is already largely dependent on the good will of participants to meet their targets. If Trump scraps any effort to meet reductions, as he almost surely will, the accord won’t be a paper tiger. It’ll just be paper.