With the wide path of destruction that Donald Trump has been cutting—in which the damage is affecting matters ranging from principles of nondiscrimination to ethical integrity of government officials to reliable health care for Americans—it is easy to lose sight of what ultimately would be the most consequential destruction of all: the damage to a habitable planet. The consequences may not be as immediately apparent, during the first 100 days or even during four years, as some of the other carnage, but the importance to humanity is even greater.
As with many other Trump policies, it is not yet clear exactly what the administration will do regarding a specific initiative such as the Paris accord on climate change, but the overall thrust of opposing any serious effort to retard global warming is all too obvious.
The recent demonstrations known as the march for science, although ostensibly not aimed at any one leader, were a salutary expression of concern, given that denial of climate change and the associated opposition against efforts to slow global warming represent one of the most glaring rejections of science, right along with the seventeenth century inquisition of Galileo. The rejection is of a piece with Trump’s contempt for truth on most any topic.
It is hard to know what goes through the minds of the climate change deniers and skeptics that Trump has installed in his administration. Most likely they are smart enough to know better but are playing out an appallingly selfish, politically narrow-minded, and short-sighted approach toward what sort of world will be left to their children and grandchildren. This is suggested by some of their contrived verbal formulations. For example, Scott Pruitt, to whom Trump has given the job of presiding over the evisceration of the Environmental Protection Agency, says, ”I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do…” Who’s talking about “precision”? That’s a false standard. The overwhelming scientific consensus is that human activity is a major, and probably the major, contributor to what is highly consequential global warming, even if the exact effects cannot be measured or predicted with “precision”.
The posture assumed on this issue by the likes of Trump and Pruitt is highly irresponsible. The Washington Post editorial page puts it aptly: “Children studying [Trump’s] presidency will ask, ‘How could anyone have done this?’ ”
Contempt and disdain are proper attitudes to adopt toward the climate change deniers, including the ones in the current administration. They should be shamed either for displaying such inexcusable ignorance or, what is even worse, for displaying selfishness and short-sightedness despite knowing better.
But that is not enough. And the problem goes far beyond Donald Trump. It extends to much of the Republican Party. As the Post editorialists observe, the GOP is “a once-great American political party embracing rank reality-denial.” James Inhofe was throwing snowballs in the Senate well before Trump was elected.
A savvy response to the deniers is to point out some of the more immediately visible economic and political consequences of the destructive approach toward climate change that the current administration has embraced. One should point out how not being in the forefront of developing renewable energy sources represents regression, not progress, for the U.S. economy, no matter how much false hope is given to Appalachian coal miners about getting jobs back. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is a prominent political leader who commendably is adding his influential voice to this subject.
One also should point out how the Trump administration’s degenerate posture on energy and climate change isolates the United States internationally. The posture makes the United States an object of disdain for taking a Dark Ages approach toward an issue in which, more than any other, everyone in the world has a stake. Anyone in the United States who professes to care about U.S. leadership in the world ought to be concerned about this, regardless of attitudes about atmospheric science.
The loss of U.S. leadership is especially evident in comparison with the other of the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases: China. Although several years ago China had a backward view of the issue of climate change, seeing it as a Western excuse for trying to retard China’s economy—a notion that Donald Trump would later adopt in the reverse direction by describing climate change as a Chinese “hoax”—Beijing is now making a concerted effort to do something about the problem. China may have already passed, as of four years ago, its peak use of coal. There are no signs that the Trump administration’s back-sliding on the issue has lessened China’s commitment to take a progressive and responsible path on the matter.
Besides revamping its own energy structure, China has become a global leader on the issue. And besides being persuaded by the scientific research that describes how vulnerable China is to damage from climate change, Beijing also sees its progressive posture on the subject as a further way to exercise soft power in the sense of international influence. Trump’s retrograde attitude toward many aspects of the international order that have served the United States well has already meant surrendering much global leadership to China. His backward attitude on climate change means surrendering still more.
*Professor Pillar retired in 2005 from a 28-year career in the U.S. intelligence community, in which his last position was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia. Earlier he served in a variety of analytical and managerial positions, including as chief of analytic units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia.
This article was first published by the National Interest and was reprinted here with permission. Copyright The National Interest.
Annex:
LET’S SAVE OUR PLANET
The countdown has started: join the global ClimateCallForAction!
We are all aware of the painful crisis of international governance that we are crossing. Global issues are forgotten, the political debate focuses only on short-term matters and the values of international cooperation for peace and justice are increasingly neglected.
Market, and not sustainability, is now the centre of society. Yet, it is clear that our future will definitely not be sustainable if we continue to follow the present global trends.
Climate Change is the most pressing example.
As it is recognised worldwide, the Paris conference on Climate Change ended-up with an insufficient plan of action, today more than ever since the Trump Administration denies any relation between Climate Change and human activities. The change at the head of the US Environmental administration puts at risk the global momentum created in Paris and this could become an excuse for other countries to withdraw from their commitments to cut down CO2 emissions and thus recklessly put at risk the life of billions of people on Earth.
In an unprecedented effort to reverse the tide, three simultaneous and connected events will be held in Rome in the first week of May to underline the urgency of saving our planet and to propose effective solutions.
Global Sustainability Forum 2017:
The Institute for Sustainable Development will organise a conference led by the Nobel Price Joseph Stigliz and gathering eminent personalities to discuss the urgency to reintroduce the concept of sustainability at the centre of economy and society, now that the damages of globalization are tangible.
National Meeting of the Schools of Peace, Fraternity and Dialog :
Organized by Tavola della Pace, the meeting will bring to Rome more than 3.000 students from all Italywho will visit the Parliament, the Government and other institutions to express their concern about the low priority given to climate and social justice issues.
RomeSymposium on Climate Change 2017 : Hosted by the Fondazione Italiana and by the New Policy Forum created by Gorbacev in 2003, the Symposium will gather key experts in environment and climate policies to provide the international community with an updated and more holistic plan of action to address climate change. A first Symposium organized by Fondazione Italiana and the New Policy Forum was held in 2015 and provided inputs for the Encyclical Laudato Si. The Symposium 2017 will address crucial issues missing in Paris negotiations and in the Paris Agreement, such as the relations between environment and justice, environment and refugees, environment and security, environment and economy, and environment and science.
TIME FOR CITIZEN ACTION !
The political class appears stuck in administrative issues and interested only in short-terms problems. Climate and sustainability are absent from the political debate. Far from being a subject of interest only for experts, these issues are instead vital for the survival of our planet and for the construction of a better world. By now we know that such challenges cannot be left in the only hands of governments.
In the following months we intend to mobilize civil society and express citizens’ will and concern for the future. A minority of American citizens has elected President Trump to run American affairs. Other citizens of the world have not voted for Trump and yet climate is not just an American issue: it is a crucial problem for the whole world. For these reasons we call on the people of the world to mobilize for climate action and climate justice.
The final session of the RomeSymposium on Climate Change 2017 will be broadcasted on Internet on Friday 5th May, so to be open and participatory. We invite you to take part by examining the document prepared by the experts during the Symposium and to give criticisms and suggestions, so to design a final document as participatory and holistic as possible.
Get on board! Be part of the process and let’s all together send a powerful message to institutions and governments to take on their responsibilities. We want to save the planet and there is no time for political games.
In the coming weeks we will send you updates on the initiative and instructions on how to join the ClimateCallForAction and thus become a part of the global movement to sabe the planet from Climate Change.
Please, promote this mobilization by sharing this appeal with your partners and networks.
Stay tuned, get on board! . The Organizational Committee of the ClimateCallForActionclimatecallforaction@gmail.com
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