Thousands marched on Earth Day to protest against Trump’s administration intentions of trying to reduce the idea of climate change to a fiction story.
Before he assumed office, Donald Trump has been clear that, to him, climate change is a “hoax” designed by China to have the U.S. redesign its energy industry. Now that he’s president, Trump has cut down the budget of every state agency that has anything to do with the environment.
Assigning climate change deniers for the head of the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency confirms Trump’s intentions of denying that fossil fuel combustion by humans is the primary factor behind climate change and that its effects are perceivable as of today. as of today.
On Saturday, April 22, scientists, environmentalists, and just plain civilians took to the streets in an Earth Day demonstration to express their disgust concerning the Trump administration disregard for scientific evidence and climate conservation.
Trump denies climate change and conserving the environment
The first orders signed by Trump focused on water supplies, perhaps to benefit the coal industry, as the Obama administration ruled that coal mining companies should refrain from contaminating rivers, destroying drinking water resources, and increasing flood risk in their area of operation.
Later it was evident that the Trump administration did not want much to do with science other than finding ways to obtain more profits, such as the future exploitation of outer space resources which could be worth millions of dollars.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget was cut by 30 percent, a decision that would cost hundreds their jobs and the end of over 50 programs to protect the environment. Among the programs, Energy Star would also be affected, which is an energy efficiency plan that oversees the construction of consumer electronics and buildings.
EPA administrator says U.S. should ‘exit’ the Paris Agreement
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt stated in a recent interview on Fox News that the Paris Agreement should be revised, and that in his opinion, the U.S. should opt out of said agreement.
He assures that “it’s a bad deal for America,” claiming that other signers such as China and India have no obligations until 2030 while the U.S. has spent vast resources in achieving the agreement’s goals. This has been refuted by The Washington Post, as they report that China is “investing heavily in renewable energy” and that India is expected to “become the world’s third-largest solar power market in 2018.”
The Paris Agreement is a followup to the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which required countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2012. Unfortunately, China, Mexico, and other developing countries were not given a target, which resulted in them increasing their emissions without restraint. Al Gore signed the protocol under the presidency of George W. Bush, but Congress would not ratify it, leaving the U.S. outside the protocol.
Finally, the Paris Agreement had signing countries agree to limit the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees Celsius, while the actual goal is not to go over 1.5 degrees.
China and India are also required to reduce their emissions by 60 and 33 percent per unit of GDP respectively, but President Trump has put himself to dissolve the regulations that would allow the U.S. to achieve the goals portrayed in the agreement. By comparison, the U.S.’s commitments for the Paris Agreement are more significant, as it is a bigger polluter than India and China on a per capita point of view, as China produced half of the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions and India produced four times less than China.
Pruitt, who was assigned to his position by Trump, claims that the agreement is a way to force the U.S. economy to “serve and really satisfy” other countries that are “polluting far more.” He assures that the EPA would go “back to basics” to ensure clean resources to each state and create more jobs in the fossil fuel industry.
100 days after the Trump presidency began, science supporters have frowned upon the imposed rulings, with the head of the National Resources Defense Council naming them “100 days of harm” on a recently written column.
“Trump has acted again and again to undo half a century of bipartisan progress in protecting our rights to clean water, air, and lands. He’s moved to part ways with longstanding American values of conservation in the public interest. And he’s betrayed the covenant we’ve forged with our children to leave them a livable world,” wrote Rhea Suh on April 18.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stated that the administration would decide upon its position regarding the Paris Agreement by the time the G7 Summit takes place, which would be in late May.
Source: The Washington Post