Can Trump do it – think differently?

Jami Hossain

In his Davos address, US President, Trump expressed concerns with the war between Russia and Ukraine. He talked about millions dead in this war and in Gaza. India’s stand has been similar and we have called for peace in many forums. It is encouraging to see the new US President talking about stopping wars rather than making one, unlike Biden who pledged and pumped in hundreds of billions of tax payer money into the war machine. In his previous term, Trump came to be known as a sort of an unpredictable person. However, now he appears quite balanced, though he is still very vocal and his speech to Davos was??extempore, fluid and smooth.?

I still can’t say, what he might come up with internationally as his ideology seems to remain hardcore western US capitalism with little softness even towards Europe. However, a President of US has heavy influence as well as responsibilities internationally. Any US policy announcements can impact billions in the US and internationally in good or bad ways.?

One may not agree with everything he says or stands for – for example, climate change which he seems to deny or not care for. However, I am happy that he has spoken out to end wars. In 2022, while speaking at Hamburg Messe, when Russo-Ukrainian war was still new, I expressed my opposition to war – not only because it brings misery and death to civilians and innocent but also it causes unchecked and untracked emissions, which further fuels climate change. At that time it appeared that the people in the West were in a state of self imposed “gag” and hardly anyone would speak about ending the war. However, after my??speech at Hamburg Messe, many participants met me in walkways and halls of Messe, appreciating my courage to speak out on this matter. Therefore, I am happy that Trump has talked about ending wars and violence. I hope he sticks to that. While there is nothing wrong in Making America Great Again, I hope he also understands great responsibility that comes with his position globally.

Three major existential??issues confront this planet -1) Climate Change that has already caused many disasters all around the world- floods, cyclones, forest fires, extreme spikes in temperatures etc.??2) Onslaught and extinction of other life forms, threatened bio diversity, deforestation etc. 3) Existing wars and likelihood of more wars.

Earth has never been as close to a disaster as it is today on multiple fronts. On the one hand,??climate change combined with many socio-political and economic factors that drive modern humanity towards a destructive path for the planet. Loss of forests, bio-diversity, rain forests, endangered species, and rate of extinctions all add up to a complex and damaging onslaught on this planet.

We need to change the way we think. The kind of technological advancements that we see in warfare and weaponry should actually be used in disaster management, forecasting weather extremes, saving whale, turtles, white rhinos, butterflies, coral reefs; ending poverty and enabling sustainable development. Imagine the kind of development that can take place if even a fraction of these funds are directed towards renewable energy, we might have been harnessing energy from the jet streams where wind speeds of the order of 300 kmph prevail, we might have been setting up extra very large wind turbines in the oceans (25 MW). One could use sun light in the night using optical fibres, provided the world was connected by means of optical fibres so that sun light from day lit areas could be used in night areas and same of course for electricity, EVs, H2 etc.??A trillion dollar result oriented R&D budget on energy can transform the world completely. Space colonization can offload some of the burden of civilization on Earth to Space Stations, Moon, Mars etc. We need encourage organizations like Space X and increase budget of space exploration organizations such as ISRO and NASA. More scientific and academic exchange and instead of stopping issuance of Visas we need to issue more Visas. Developed nations need to get out of the Narrow mindsets. Scientific and industrial exchange is must. It's holding them back from what good they can do.???

However, if are not able do anything about messy issues that we face, then we are headed to a status of a “the civilization that couldn’t make it” or worse still “the only planet where the life sparked and died down” because for at least a thousand of light years around us, there is no sign of life – not to speak of a full-fledged advanced, engineering, nuke and space enabled civilization.

Can Trump do it – think differently? Can he stop being dictated by narrow mindsets and achieve something good for the planet. I think people in his position can do something.?