Type into Google what will happen if, and ‘climate change continues’ is the first search result. This speaks volumes for just how much of a heart-breaking and terrifying decision Donald Trump’s is to leave the Paris Agreement and disregard the USA’s responsibilities to work towards a more sustainable future for our world. In an exit that has shocked the world and shown that he’s more than just the clown about town, Trump is directly endangering countless lives and disregarding worldwide scientific proof of the current danger we face on this planet. It’s obvious that Trump’s choice (as per usual) is both erratic and dangerous, but we look at 10 reasons why leaving the Paris Agreement is much more sinister than we first thought, but we’ll outline some key stuff about the Agreement first:
What is it?
The Paris Agreement is an international network of government bodies created to strengthen the global response to climate change. It was started in December 2015, and puts together facts presented by science and the power of politics to create positive environmental change.
Why?
Human pollution has meant that the global average temperature is increasing, creating a massive strain on food production, clean water sources and energy production. The Paris Agreement aims to keep this to below 2˚C, ideally 1.5 ˚C, and ultimately, create carbon neutrality.
Who’s involved and how do they police it?
It’s a way of holding countries accountable for future generations, by taxing the worst offenders when it comes to pollution and creating a legal framework, for if they don’t follow their pledges. The countries involved meet every 5 years to compare progress and to adjust plans according to new science and technology. The only countries not currently in it are Syria and Nicaragua, so Trump wouldn’t have much company.
Why does he want to leave?
Well, in short Trump claimed that climate change was a hoax, so he probably just doesn’t see the point. There’s really no point trying to make sense of him, so we may as well just quote him. 'The Paris agreement handicaps the United States economy in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our country’s expense,' he said. 'They don’t put America first. I do, and I always will.'
The decision to leave is hugely devastating. Here’s just 10 reasons why:
**1.The impact is global **
Although it doesn’t seem as though America pulling out will urge other countries to do the same – in fact European and Chinese leaders have used this opportunity to pledge to continue to combat global warming - there is no doubt that a US exit puts a huge burden on the other nations in the agreement. The US emissions reduction pledge accounts for 1/5 of the global emissions to be avoided by 2030, this exit means that the remaining countries are left trying to make up the shortfall in emissions cuts, which could give some of them no choice but to leave as well. As well as this strain, a huge part of the Paris Agreement is richer countries financially supporting less developed and more vulnerable economies. With such a huge country and amount of wealth leaving, the abilities of less developed countries to make climate change solutions could be seriously impacted. Obama pledged $3 billion to a fund dedicated to this purpose, but only $1 billion has been transferred so far. In his announcement, Trump pledged to drop those commitments entirely, showing little hope for smaller economies around the world hoping to create sustainable futures.
2. Things can only get worse
The USA is already the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. In an analysis by not-for-profit group Climate Interactive, stats show that if emissions by the US continue as normal with no changes, the world could warm by an additional 0.3 ˚C by 2100. This would help push global temperature rise well beyond 2˚C, causing punishing heatwaves, a rise in sea level, displacement of millions of people and the loss of ecosystems such as coral reefs. Obama was passionate about creating a more sustainable way of life for America and yet the USA were still creating a mammoth impact compared to other countries. It seems these figures are only going to get worse without anyone at the very top caring or even believing in climate change, let alone investing in an industry as harmful as coal mining.
3.He’s not speaking for Americans
As part of his announcement, Trump used everyone’s favourite year 9 persuasive writing tool as he smugly stated; “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Well, bad luck mate, alliteration or not, Pittsburgh don’t want you either. In yet another idiotic move, he chose to use a state that overwhelmingly voted Clinton and have among the highest rates of climate change activists in America in order to back his decision. The mayor of Pittsburgh rejected the association, tweeting: "I can assure you that we will follow the guideline of the Paris agreement for our people, our country & future." The story across the rest of America paints a similar picture, stats released this year by the New York Times show that 75% of Americans support regulating CO2 as a pollutant more generally. This is just one of the ways in this decision by Trump shows him refusing to represent the opinions and priorities of Americans.
**4.It’s an environmental disaster **
The environmental impact of global warming is, and will continue to shorten the amount of time the Earth will be able to last. Physical effects include flooding, drought, heatwaves, warming oceans, flooded coastal cities, mass extinction, crop failures, glaciers and ice caps melting, food and power shortages, wildfires, even cyclones, typhoons and other extreme weather events. It may sound like a list of scenes from The Day After Tomorrow but this is a reality that we’re already living. In 2016, seasonal maximum of Arctic ice was the lowest ever recorded, average sea surface temperatures were the warmest ever recorded, intense heatwaves of up to 51 ˚C caused widespread droughts meaning the Amazon Basin was the driest it has ever been, Canada saw the largest wildfire in their history, Hurricane Matthew was the first category four storm to make landfall since 1963 and the strongest El Niño in 35 years circulated warm air around the globe. The World Meteorological Organisation issued a report earlier this year stating that we have surpassed our understanding of our changing climate and have stepped into truly “unchartered territory”. A country with both the political power and geographic size of the USA pulling out of this could make these statistics even more catastrophic for the coming years.
**5.Americans are facing censorship **
The Environmental Protection Agency now has Scott Pruitt at its head, a climate change denier. Since Obama left office all of their web pages about climate change have been changed or deleted in a worrying act of censorship. The Paris Agreement has a heavy focus on transparency, ensuring the public can always see the actions being taken against climate change. The secrecy and unpredictability of the Trump regime does not suggest good things for global warming strategies. Plus, his recently released budget eliminates funding both for research on climate change by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and for the development of clean energy innovations at the EPA.
6.They may also leave the UNFCCC
When you start looking into the small print of a country leaving The Paris Agreement, it seems that Trump’s exit may be logistically very poorly thought out. Shockingly out of character, I know. The biggest reason for this being that it actually takes four years for a country to leave, meaning that by the time the US were out, Trump (fingers, toes and everything else crossed) will no longer even be President. The loophole here lies in the UNFCCC, or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, for those of you not up on your acronyms. This is the UN’s environmental body, which The Paris Agreement is under. If Trump also pulls out of the UNFCCC then they can leave The Paris Agreement in just one year. The UNFCCC have already shown that they’re having none of Trump’s T’s & C’s in a statement released yesterday saying "The Paris Agreement remains a historic treaty signed by 194 and ratified by 147 countries, therefore, it cannot be renegotiated based on the request of a single Party". However, leaving both The Paris Treaty and the UNFCCC will mark a shocking and historic disregard for any type of commitment to a sustainable future by the US.
7.It directly endangers human life
A country as large and as powerful as America disregarding global warming puts a very real and unprecedented pressure on human life. Doctors across the world have condemned his decision, with The American College of Physicians describing the exit as having “catastrophic consequences for human health, with the elderly, the sick, and the poor being especially vulnerable”. This isn’t something that money can get us out of and this isn’t a scary warning for the future, this is something we’re seeing now and it’s something that will only get worse, look at the recent impact of Zika and West Nile Virus. Global warming will create changing disease patterns, migration crises, respiratory and heat-related illnesses, insect-borne infections, water-borne diseases, and threats to safe food and water. Plus, heat can raise blood pressure and worsen cholesterol levels. Longer, hotter summers can aid the spread of mosquitoes that carry diseases such as malaria, dengue, Zika and yellow fever — and warmer winters may fail to kill off populations of the insects. This is not to mention deaths caused by injury from extreme weather events. The World Food Programme estimates that 18.2 million people will require emergency assistance early this year, while the UN predict that by 2040, 1 in 4 children will be in regions enduring extreme water shortages. Climate change has a huge and urgent threat to our health, economics and security.
8.He’s doing it to rejuvenate a deadly industry
When asked about Trump’s decision to put US resources into coal production, Solomon Hsiang, of the University of California at Berkeley, said: “investing in coal while China takes the lead in solar is like investing in building a better horse-drawn carriage back when Henry Ford was investing in mass producing cars” which pretty much sums up how ridiculous this is in a sentence. Countries across the world have moved away from coal production in the last 10 years, (the UK will phase out coal for the generation of electricity by 2025) proving what an outdated concept putting money here is. So what is he up to this time? Well, a large amount of the votes Trump received during his fight for Presidency were from states with the highest coal production in the United States, including Wyoming and Kentucky. Having said this, the price of renewables is much lowerthan electricity generated by coal-fired plants, so it’s hugely unlikely to make a comeback, proving to be yet another of his ill thought out investments. In a more worrying statistic, tens of thousands of Americans die prematurely each year from air pollution-related diseases associated with burning coal, so he’s also investing in an industry that directly endangers the lives of Americans.
**9.It isolates American business leaders **
Many of the biggest businesses and institutions across America have been making huge commitments to a more sustainable future for the world for years. A blanket decision such as this ignores the hard work and dedication by so many American companies, not to mention politicians and activists. The list of people that have already spoken publicly against Trump’s decision is endless. Elon Musk has said he’s leaving Trump’s economic and manufacturing advisory council as a result of the announcement, Apple CEO Tim Cook called White House to try and convince him to stay and Leonardo di Caprio has tweeted the President directly. In a rare and powerful statement, Obama spoke of how the USA have now joined “a small handful of nations that reject the future”, he added that US states, cities and businesses “will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got”. With so many American business leaders so passionately against his decision, the nationwide economic impact cannot be underestimated.
10.He’s going against the rest of the world
As part of his exit announcement Trump also said that he wants to work towards building a new agreement that would protect American workers. He added his belief that other countries are ‘laughing’ at the US, obviously hasn’t quite clocked that literally the least laughable thing about him is his opinion on global warming. Many political leaders have already dismissed the idea of a negotiation, including French President Emmanuel Macron who said that “The United States and France will continue to work together, but not on the subject of climate change.” At a time when international unity is more necessary than ever before, this seems to be a huge issue alienating USA from the rest of the world.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.