Summary of current policy

This administration’s attitude to and action on global warming is appalling:

  • Trump has for years denied that warming is even occurring, going so far to claim it is a massive hoax. He continues to do so on to this day.
  • Trump repeatedly opposes and ridicules the use of renewable energy sources, despite their clear exploitation in other countries, and boasts that he will be burning more fossil fuels.
  • He and his administration have deliberately tried to hide, or dismiss, the findings of the US agencies responsible for reporting on the current science, and the growing negative implications for the US.
  • Looking at briefings on climate change makes it clear there is no interest in even listening to science. Instead, some Republcan representatives have a clear preconceived agenda, and show that their aim is to confuse and mislead on the science, rather than listen and act, as is their duty.
  • Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, yet the reasons given contain clearly inaccurate statements about the nature of this agreement, the actions of other countries, and the implications to the US.
  • Numerous climate change regulations have been weakened e.g. one that controlled the level of emissions of methane (a very potent greenhouse gas)
  • The government agencies that have, since 1990, reported on the science and implications of the current level of emissions are now limited in what they can even report. They can no longer make ‘worse case’ predictions for what the implications of our current path might be, and they cannot make predictions past 2040 so as to hide the worse of the predicted dire effects. Such government hiding of bad news seems Soviet-like.

The impact on US CO2 emissions is already clear. Since 1990 (when the climate change issue was clear to President Bush and the international community) the US has a poor record compared to Europe, who have been addressing the issue by reducing emissions (-20% for Europe vs increase of 4% by US). But at least since 2007 there have been reductions - until the end of 2016, whereupon the emissions start turning upwards again.

I believe in the future, as the consequences continue to unfold , Americans will rightly look back on the words and actions of the last few years with shame, guilt, anger and disgust.