Trump called climate change "a hoax". More recently, he's said that he has "an open mind". And most recently, he says "no one really knows about climate change." This latter statement is false because the overwhelming majority of climate experts say that our atmosphere and our oceans are warming and climate crises (floods, droughts, extreme storms, wildfires ...) are becoming more common. Our climate experts say that these climate changes are human-caused due to release of greenhouse gas emissions. Our climate experts argue that we should act in accordance with the Precautionary Principle ... that is, we should take preventive action, even though the time-frame and consequences of climate change are not known precisely. The predicted threats (sea-level rise and coastal flooding, extreme heat waves, drought and agricultural losses, feedback loops that accelerate climate change) will cause hundreds of trillions of dollars of economic losses and massive human suffering, By the Precautionary Principle, we must act aggressively to prevent these threats.
Yet, despite Trump's "open mind" on climate change, he appoints the current CEO of the petroleum-giant ExxonMobil to be his Secretary of State, even though Rex Tillerson's been in recent negotiations with the Russian petroleum-giant Rosneft, to drill for oil in the Russian Arctic. In fact, he's nominated a unanimity of climate change deniers to his cabinet, including Scott Pruitt to head the Enivronmental Protection Agency and Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy. His declaration of open-mindedness on climate change is a ruse; his actions are full-blown climate change denialism and vile lack of Precautionary Principle.
So, Trump has cast the Precautionary Principle to the wind with his cabinet picks. He's defined our United States, not as a moral leader, but as the dominant nuclear-armed petrostate, allied with its fellow Russian petrostate. Surely, there must be some ethical Republican senators and representatives that will ally with Democrats to halt this existential lunacy. If you do not confront Trump and reverse his flagrant enriching of oil and gas companies to the grave detriment of our future climate then our U.S. will go down in history as the most reviled nation of all time.
Yet, despite Trump's "open mind" on climate change, he appoints the current CEO of the petroleum-giant ExxonMobil to be his Secretary of State, even though Rex Tillerson's been in recent negotiations with the Russian petroleum-giant Rosneft, to drill for oil in the Russian Arctic. In fact, he's nominated a unanimity of climate change deniers to his cabinet, including Scott Pruitt to head the Enivronmental Protection Agency and Rick Perry to be Secretary of Energy. His declaration of open-mindedness on climate change is a ruse; his actions are full-blown climate change denialism and vile lack of Precautionary Principle.
So, Trump has cast the Precautionary Principle to the wind with his cabinet picks. He's defined our United States, not as a moral leader, but as the dominant nuclear-armed petrostate, allied with its fellow Russian petrostate. Surely, there must be some ethical Republican senators and representatives that will ally with Democrats to halt this existential lunacy. If you do not confront Trump and reverse his flagrant enriching of oil and gas companies to the grave detriment of our future climate then our U.S. will go down in history as the most reviled nation of all time.