Wildfires run rampant in California, the world just endured the hottest year on record, and the East Coast struggles to stay afloat as hurricanes tear through cities. Yet, despite these apparent warnings, the new Trump administration does not see climate change as a priority, and would rather revert back to Manifest Destiny, obtaining new land masses. Yeah, we’re as confused as you are.
Recent presidential actions have left the general public with jaws on the floor- in shock and disbelief as all progress towards securing any future for our planet is undone. Upon entering the White House on January 20th, Trump moved to withdraw America from The Paris Climate Agreement for the second time after doing so in his first term. However, The U.S. only remained out of the pact for a four-month period as it took the entirety of his presidency to withdraw, only for us to rejoin once Biden took office in 2021.
The Paris Climate Agreement is a pact between 194 parties that aims to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. A pretty useful agreement if you ask us, considering the 50 -degree temperatures in last month. However, some beg to differ and want to prioritize renaming historic bodies of water. With the withdrawal of the U.S., we’re now one of only four countries not in the pact.
Not only are we endangering the climate with this executive action, but we’re also endangering our diplomacy with other nations. In an NPR article, at npr.org/TrumpParisAgreement, the leader of the international climate policy and politics at the World Resources Institute says, “leaving the accord could prove damaging, Waskow said, by potentially sidelining the U.S. from some clean energy and green tech markets and reducing leverage with other countries. That could hamper some of Trump’s broader economic goals for the U.S.” Not only does this jeopardize the progress of climate change solutions, but also our diplomacy with other nations, yikes.
Lower gas prices, cheaper groceries, and mass extinction. Drill baby, drill as the Trump administration proposes and all this and more are possible!
While this one action is not going to cause the annihilation of our species, it is a step backward rather than maintaining our previous bystander stance on climate change for the past few years. Our president, so eager to terminate our participation in the accord, couldn’t even wait for his inaugural proceeding to end to sign the order into effect, passing it during the parade. This is a clear indication that the climate crisis is snowballing into something too big for us to handle, despite the potential lack of snow in our future.
Now, more than ever, change is needed as the sixth mass extinction is believed to occur on the planet. It’s believed that we have undergone five mass extinctions in the history of the Earth and that we are currently in one now. This extinction differentiates from the rest as the cause of it lies with us. At least 75% of species die out in mass extinctions, so in order to save those that we can, action needs to take place NOW.
