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| Photo credit: Institute of Physics |
It wasn’t
unexpected. But it was deeply disturbing nonetheless. A New
York Times Editorial called President Trump’s decision to pull
out of the Paris Climate Accord ‘stupid and reckless’; the
nation’s dumbest action since starting the Iraq War. I would add
the word ‘shameful’ to the list of adjectives.
The Paris Agreement was a triumph of the human condition and spirit. We human beings are facing the greatest threat to our existence since the possibility of global nuclear war, and prior to that, since we came out of caves for the first time. Global warming is something that we caused, and yet we have the knowledge and resources to correct it. The fix is entirely a matter of collective will.
That will is the
only difficult part. But the hard part was already done. All America
had to do was to stay the course. And that course was undoubtedly in
the right direction. Trump has shamefully perpetuated the myth that
climate change is a hoax; that this accord, and other regulations
hurt the American economy and jobs. In fact, the exact
opposite is true.
Paris wasn’t a
panacea. It was merely a turn-around; the first step towards
correcting our course. It was necessarily complicated, as any
agreement among 195 nations would be. Only two countries, Syria and
Nicaragua, failed to sign. Now we can add the United States of
America to that shameful list.
Trump’s decision
is blatantly political. Yes, it was a campaign promise. Trump has
kept some, and he’s broken many. Never mind that many, though not
all Republicans favored this direction, some even writing a letter to
Trump to urge him to dump the accord. This was about appealing to his
base. Steve Bannon, Vlad Putin, and many who voted for Trump in hopes
that he would ‘put America first’, especially American jobs, will
be happy. Human beings of the near future (read: our kids and
grand-kids) who need to breathe the air, drink the water, and live
off planet earth’s bounty, not so much.
In the near term,
America’s already eroded world leadership is now much further
diminished. Our economy, jobs, security and of course our environment
will suffer.
We can only hope
that Trump will be impeached sooner rather than later. His treason
and obstruction of justice are coming to light more than ever. Even
the Republican party, try as they might, will not be able to stop the
carnage. The problem is that with this and other actions, he’s
already done tremendous long-term damage to our environment. And he’s
brought shame, more than ever before – and that’s saying
something – on his, and our country.
