Shame

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.