{"id":4007,"date":"2017-06-14T09:01:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T09:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/america-last-why-trump-running-away-from-paris-is-so-foolish_061417\/"},"modified":"2017-06-14T09:01:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T09:01:00","slug":"america-last-why-trump-running-away-from-paris-is-so-foolish_061417","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/america-last-why-trump-running-away-from-paris-is-so-foolish_061417\/","title":{"rendered":"America Last: Why Trump\u2019s running away from \u2018Paris\u2019 is so foolish"},"content":{"rendered":"
I have refrained from political commentary since Trump took office because so much has been unclear. Not that his stated views during his campaign that climate change is a Chinese hoax and climate rules are designed to hurt American businesses or his appointment of staunch climate change-deniers to the EPA and Department of Energy, promised anything good. But now the long awaited, reality TV decision about the Paris Climate Agreement showed the real Donald Trump meant what was really going to do what he promised: The United States will “withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord,” “seizing all implementations right away.”<\/p>\n
Trump frames the climate change fight, not as one of our world’s biggest challenges but an economic zero-sum game of the US against the rest of the world. In his speech, Trump tried to tie leaving ‘Paris’ to the protection of the American people. This is a narrative weaned from reality.<\/p>\n
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Here are some sobering facts to put Trump’s decision in context<\/strong><\/p>\n Will it change US progress in the inevitable move to renewable energy? <\/strong><\/p>\n The simple answer is no. Besides the damaging effects of Trump’s actions at the federal level, for businesses, states, and cities, the only common sense course of action is to continue down the path of renewable energy. Directly after Trump’s decision, California, Washington, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, Minnesota, Delaware, Virginia and Puerto Rico – representing roughly 35% of the US economy – formed the United States Climate Alliance, vowing to uphold the Paris Climate agreement within their borders. Eleven other states, including Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina and Illinois, have also supported the Climate Agreement.<\/p>\n The historic Paris Climate Agreement has already been ratified by most parties to the treaty and was signed by all countries except Nicaragua, who find the agreement not far-reaching and aggressive enough, and Syria, for obvious reasons. The Paris agreement is an agreement with intentions, not with automatic actions. The interpretation and subsequent actions heavily rely on industry and civil society. And they are now further encouraged to take action. While the Trump administration is doing everything to shut down forward-looking energy policy and climate change policy on a federal level, such as overhauling Obama’s Clean Power Plan, on a state and city level, the majority is acting; investing in renewable energy resources, adhering to the Paris Agreement guidelines. Since Trump’s announcement, governors, mayors and business leaders have spoken out and showed their intentions to stick with ‘Paris.’ California’s governor flew to China to sign an agreement with the Chinese to collaborate on climate and clean tech, emphasizing the resolve from states to act and move forward.<\/p>\n A symbolic policy shift with diplomatic and reputational impact first and foremost<\/strong><\/p>\n The announcement to withdraw from ‘Paris’ is a symbolic move more than anything. And it is symbolic for all the wrong reasons <\/strong><\/p>\n The bottom-line: Trump will be gone when Mar-a-Lago is swallowed by the sea<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n As Oscar Wilde famously said: “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” Trump’s announcement was short-sighted and removed from reality and science, catering to a small fraction of people with extremist and ancient views on climate and energy <\/p>\n The good news is that the clean energy transition is well underway and won’t be stopped by the Trump administration, not in the US and certainly not abroad. But, as many critics of the climate agreement emphasize, it might be too little too late. The Paris deal was a strong message from all nations, coming together in the endorsement of curbing global warming and the impacts of climate change, but the climate fight needs more ambitious goals and most importantly actions. The world can’t wait any longer and play an economically motivated game of chicken, with the well-being of our planet at stake. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have refrained from political commentary since Trump took office because so much has been unclear. Not that his stated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[921],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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