The Most Consequential Impact Of Trumps Climate Policies Wasted Time
We added a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during the Trump years, but the biggest loss was failing to make forward progress, experts say.
For decades, climate experts have warned that delaying action to limit global warming would make the problem more dangerous and harder to solve. So how much impact did four years of delay under President Donald J. Trump actually have?
On the total amount of extra carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere in the past few years, surprisingly little, says Leah Stokes, a climate policy expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara. But the bigger cost was to slow down progress that was being made. Climate and economic costs of creating a future with fewer fossil fuels are increasing steeply each year, so an extra four years on hold, at least in the United States, puts even more pressure on future leaders.
Its not just that weve been moving in the wrong direction, but also we havent been moving in the right direction, Stokes says.
How Americans View The Impact Of Climate Change Depends On Where They Live
Most Americans today say that climate change is affecting their local community either a great deal or some. That figure remains fairly steady from last year, when 59% reported at least some local effects of climate change.
The vast majority of this group says long periods of unusually hot weather represent a major local impact of climate change. They also say major effects include severe weather such as floods and intense storms , harm to animal wildlife and their habitats , damage to forests and plant life or droughts and water shortages . More frequent wildfires and rising sea levels that erode beaches and shorelines also are cited by equal percentages as major impacts to their local communities.
The degree to which Americans report experiencing effects of climate change in their local community varies by geographic region. Americans in Pacific states are most likely to see at least some local impacts of climate change . By comparison, 54% of those living in Mountain states say climate change is affecting their local area at least some.
Large shares of Americans nationwide who report at least some local impact of climate change cite long periods of unusually hot weather as occurring where they live. Other major effects of climate change, however, tend to vary by region.
A partisan lens also plays a role in these perceptions. Democrats and Democratic leaners are more likely than Republicans to report at least some effects of climate change on their local communities.1
‘it’ll Change Back’: Trump Says Climate Change Not A Hoax But Denies Lasting Impact
Climate scientists have political agendas, US president says in interview with 60 Minutes
Donald Trump has reiterated his doubts about climate change, suggesting that the climate could change back again, and that climate scientists are politically motivated.
The US president has long questioned man-made global warming. In an interview with CBS programme 60 Minutes that aired Sunday night, he said that he no longer believes climate change is a hoax, as he tweeted in 2012.
I think somethings happening. Somethings changing and itll change back again, he said. I dont think its a hoax. I think theres probably a difference. But I dont know that its manmade. I will say this: I dont want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I dont want to lose millions and millions of jobs.
The White House has previously declined to clarify Trumps position. He tweeted in 2017 during a cold snap that perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming.
In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Years Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!
Donald J. Trump
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Donald Trump Does Not Believe In Man
Donald Trumps campaign manager said Tuesday that her candidate does not believe in man-made climate change following a heatedand ambiguousexchange on the issue at the first presidential debate.
He believes that global warming is naturally occurring, Kellyanne Conway said on CNN. There are shifts naturally occurring.
Conways remark clarifies a remark from Trump during Mondays debate. Hillary Clinton accused Trump of saying climate change was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Trump responded saying, I do not say that, but he did not clarify exactly what part of Clintons comment he found objectionable.
Trump has repeatedly questioned the science of climate change and as recently as 2012 created by China. Throughout the campaign he has promised to gut U.S. efforts to address the issue.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
Donald J. Trump
Nearly all climate scientists agree that humans are contributing to climate change and urgent measures are needed to address it. Both candidates offered their views on how to address climate changeand other key science issues under presidential purviewin a survey of science policy earlier this month. In those answers, Trump dismissed global warming saying there is still much that needs to be investigated while Clinton outlined her plan.
So What Does Trump Actually Believe
that Mr Trump tends to conflate climate change with environmentalism more generally.
“He doesn’t really understand what climate change is about,” says Professor Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at the University of Columbia.
Climate change: How 1.5C could change the world
Meanwhile, Joseph Goffman, executive director of Harvard’s Environmental Law Programme, argues that Mr Trump “believes nothing on climate change – he’s a climate nihilist”.
Mr Trump’s position is based on his need to appeal to “the part of the Republican establishment that rejects climate policy,” Mr Goffman, who previously worked as Democratic staff director on the Senate environmental committee, adds.
Joseph Pinion, a Republican strategist who has called for more action on climate change, also argues that Mr Trump looks at the issue from a political, rather than a moral perspective.
“He’s not going to win running on the environment,” Mr Pinion says. “In America, climate is not an issue, so the reason it is not an issue for President Trump is because he cares about winning. And the reason Democrats are OK with it not being a priority for them, is because they want to beat him.”
“Ultimately it doesn’t matter what President Trump believes, what matters is what he’s doing – we need to recognise climate change is not a priority of his administration.”
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Democrats Mostly Agree The Federal Government Should Do More On Climate While Republicans Differ By Ideology Age And Gender
Majorities of Americans say the federal government is doing too little for key aspects of the environment, from protecting water or air quality to reducing the effects of climate change. And most believe the United States should focus on developing alternative sources of energy over expansion of fossil fuel sources, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
A majority of U.S. adults say they are taking at least some specific action in their daily lives to protect the environment, though Democrats and Republicans remain at ideological odds over the causes of climate change and the effects of policies to address it, according to the survey of 3,627 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 1 to Oct. 13, 2019, using the Centerâs American Trends Panel.
These findings come amid the Trump administrationâs intention to officially withdraw from the 2016 Paris climate accord and ongoing efforts to roll back domestic environmental protection regulations, including relaxing limits on methane and carbon emissions.
About two-thirds of U.S. adults say the federal government is doing too little to reduce the effects of climate change, and similar shares say the same about government efforts to protect air and water quality â findings that are consistent with results from a 2018 Center survey.
Views about government efforts to protect the environment in areas such as water or air quality show similar differences among Republicans by ideology, generation and gender.
How Great Is The Climate Threat
A report released in October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the leading international body evaluating climate change – said it could be stopped only if the world made major, and costly, changes.
That means reducing global emissions of CO2 by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, and reducing coal use to almost zero and using up to seven million sq km for land energy crops.
If the world fails to act, the researchers warned, there would be some significant and dangerous changes to our world, including rising sea levels, significant impacts on ocean temperatures and acidity, and the ability to grow crops such as rice, maize and wheat.
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Us Elections : A History Of Trumps Climate Change Denial
The US is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but the president has repeatedly undermined sustained efforts by climate change researchers
By Akshit Sangomla
United States President Donald Trumps position on climate change has been constantly under the spotlight. The US is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, but the president has repeatedly undermined sustained efforts by climate change researchers on the subject.
In November 2018, for instance, when a group of government scientists and officials from 13 federal agencies brought out a volume of the National Climate Assessment, Trump denied its findings outright. The report had stated:
Based on extensive evidence, it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.
I dont believe it. No, no, I dont believe it, Trump had told a US media reporter back then.
But all this has proved to be unconvincing to the US president, though he recently conceded at one of the presidential debates that humans have had some role to play in changing the climate of Earth. But this was too little too late. The damage has already been done in the last four years.
Looking Toward The Future
Inglis, a Republican, remains hopeful that a Trump administration and Republican Congress can muster the political courage to take action on climate changean opening he says might come with marginalized Trump supporters sudden feeling of empowerment.
I think we need to go to the people who had their backs on the wall, being pressed by their fears of big government, and say to them, Okay, youve won. And now, in our humility, were coming to you to save our common home, he says.
Youll still have Myron Ebell still yelling that is not a problem, but hes going to have to really yell loud. Hes going to have to try and herd them with fear.
And I dont know where hes going to find that fear.
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Trump Says Global Warming Efforts Don’t Work Because ‘rest Of The World’ Is ‘filthy’
Republican former President Donald Trump has told conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly that efforts to fight global warming don’t work because the rest of the world is “filthy.”
Trump made his comment during a Thursday interview. O’Reilly asked him about rising gas costs under the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump blamed Biden’s policies on recent cost increases. Trump then criticized Biden’s attempts to combat global warming and climate change.
“We can have all the global warming things that we want to do. We can do everything we want, but you still have the rest of the world that’s filthy,” Trump said. “And China sends up a lot, and India, our great friend India, they send up fumes and things, the likes of which you’ve never seen.”
Trump also said that China is in the process of “building hundreds and hundreds” of coal-fired plants while similar plants are closing in the U.S. China is building coal-fired power plants at a rate that outpaces all the other countries of the world combined, according to the Yale School of the Environment.
“And we’re going to these stupid windmills that are destroying our countryside,” Trump continued. “They are the dumbest thing and they’re expensive.”
Trump doesn’t believe in climate change. He has called global warming a hoax invented by the Chinese government to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
The Biden Administration’s Approach To Science
During his campaign and since being elected, President Biden has repeatedly stressed that his administration will listen to science.34 He began putting his words into action even before taking office, for example, when he appointed Eric Lander as presidential science advisor.35 In comparison, Trump did not appoint a science advisor until nearly two years into his term, later than any first-term president since at least 1976.36 At the same time as he appointed Lander, President Biden also announced that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy would become a Cabinet-level agency, giving it significantly more influence in administration decision-making.37
Building on these early actions, on his first day in office, President Biden issued an executive order declaring that, when combating climate change, the Federal Government must be guided by the best science and be protected by processes that ensure the integrity of Federal decision-making.38 One week later, President Biden issued an executive memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking:
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What Is His Plan To Tackle Climate Change
Donald Trump’s campaign site posted his second-term MAGA agenda, “Fighting for You! in August.
The brief list of bullet points appear under headline themes similar to issues which Mr Trump campaigned on in 2016, like Drain The Swamp and End Illegal Immigration And Protect American Workers.
Theres no mention of climate change or the environment.
Over the coming weeks, the President will be sharing additional details about his plans through policy-focused speeches on the campaign trail, the agenda notes.
The Independent sought comment from the Trump campaigns press office for updates on the presidents plan to tackle climate change but had received no response at the time of publication.
During questions on climate change at the last debate, Mr Trump said: You know were planting a billion trees, a billion-tree project.
This month, he signed an executive order making the US government part of a global tree planting initiative but did not commit to a number of trees.
The fossil fuel carbon is so much bigger than all the carbon in the trees. You cant do carbon neutral by planting trees … its sort of a band aid,’ University of Chicago geophysical sciences professor David Archer previously told The Hill.
Trump Attacks Cnn’s Jim Acosta In Angry White House Press Conference
REUTERS
It predicted the countrys economy would see economic losses in the hundreds of billions by 2100, and stated there was no convincing alternative explanation for climate change besides human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases.
Dismissing the report, Mr Trump continued: Number two, if you go back and if you look at articles, they talked about global freezing, they talked about at some point the planets could have freeze to death , then its going to die of heat exhaustion.
There is movement in the atmosphere. Theres no question. As to whether or not its manmade and whether or not the effects that youre talking about are there, I dont see it not nearly like it is. Do we want clean water? Absolutely. Do we want clean air to breathe? Absolutely.
Mr Trump next moved unprompted on to Californias forest fires, again falsely blaming a lack of forest management and suggesting raking the earth could solve the issue. The president said earlier this month Finland prevented forest fires by raking, a claim that left many Fins bemused.
The fire in California, where I was, if you looked at the floor, the floor of the fire, they have trees that were fallen, they did no forest management, no forest maintenance, and you can light you can take a match like this and light a tree trunk when that thing is laying there for more than 14 or 15 months, Mr Trump said. And its a massive problem in California.
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Donald Trump On Climate Change: ‘i Believe It Goes Up And It Goes Down’
Senior Front Page Editor, HuffPost
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has rendered his opinion on climate change, and it is characteristically off-kilter.
“Unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather. I believe there’s change,” Trump told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
In a confusing exchange with Hewitt, Trump rattled off several non sequiturs on global temperatures. Trump says that “people in the 1920s thought the Earth was cooling, now it’s global warming,” implying that all subsequent climate science is nonsense.
As David Roberts at Vox points out, scientists never actually believed that the Earth was cooling. Trump appears to be repeating talking points from climate change deniers, who often rely on a 1970s article in Newsweek for their research on “global cooling.” The author of that article has made it clear that the Earth is, in fact, warming and that climate deniers should stop using his article as evidence that it’s not.
In the Hewitt interview, Trump goes on to complain about the government attempting to solve a problem that he doesn’t think “in any major fashion exists.” And he keeps talking:
This is not the first time Trump has denied climate change he has also attempted to use cold weather to disprove climate change in the past, and argued that global warming was “created by and for the Chinese”:
