How American policy on the Environment is Losing the goodwill of the Planet
Michael Spencer
A.I. Writer, researcher and curator - full-time Newsletter publication manager.
At a time when countries around the world unanimously support the Paris accord of 2015, one country is showing it will unlikely be able to fulfill its promise and is likely to pull-out of the collective agreement altogether: The United States of America.
U.S. Betrays Paris Accord Treaty of 194 Nations
On Tuesday March 28th, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday at Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which officials said looks to curb the federal government's enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change.
Promising to end the war on coal, the White House appears to be in denial about the way the energy sector has changed in the last few years. Solar-energy jobs are in fact, growing 12 times as fast as the US economy. There are ten times as many Americans working in the renewable energy sector as there are coal miners.
U.S., Losers in Renewable Energy Green Economy
While Trump's administration has said reducing environmental regulation will create jobs, the renewable energy sector is booming internationally, as China and even India pull ahead.
To put this in some perspective, Trump is not just tearing up Obama’s climate policies, he's letting China lead a very lucrative field.
- China is investing $361 billion into renewable fuel by 2020; hit with major smog issues is many major cities, they understand the seriousness of the issue.
- The dying of the Great Barrier Reef; a humanitarian crisis in East Africa caused by severe drought, the thawing of Arctic ice. These are issues environmentalists cite as being a direct result of global warming.
- China is poised to become the next leader in green technology with environmental policies that plan to create China more than 13 million jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2020.
Crimes against the Environment
United States is set to fall far short of its 2015 Paris Agreement pledge: to lower emissions by at least 26 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
Barack Obama's clean power plan that required states to slash carbon emissions from power plants, is now being targeted by the White House, in what can only be called, the greatest environmental betrayal of modern times.
Business as usual will mean irreparable damage for the Planet.
Even ExxonMobil, has pleaded with Trump to keep true to the Paris agreement. Trump has claimed that the Keystone XL Pipeline would create 28,000 good construction jobs, though reports suggest he exaggerated the number by a factor of seven.
With Great Prosperity Comes Greater Responsibility
China surpassed the United States a decade ago as the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, and now discharges about twice as much. However China also takes its future much more seriously with regards to green energy and reducing its global footprint.
However not Coal, but renewable energy is the big job creator of our times in the energy sector, and this will only allow China and India to overtake the U.S. in becoming proficient with it. The green energy economy is booming, and China and India are becoming its future leaders.
While Trump takes away regulations of Obama's war on Coal, China ramps up its war on Pollution, making China the new leader in the field.
The Future of Energy is Not Fossil Fuels
- According to the EDF report, the compound annual growth rate of employment in the fossil-fuel industry (a measurement of the average growth per year) was -4.5% from 2012 to 2015. Renewable-energy jobs had a rate of 6% during that period.
- Skeptics of Trump's Policy decisions say claim the White House has a war on science where post-truth rhetoric is harming American policy and values.
Governance in the Post-Truth Era
Trump was quoted as saying Global warming was invented by the Chinese on Twitter:
In an age when China seeks to peak its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, where will the U.S stand on this? As a skeptic, or as a partner in China's new global leadership on the issue?
History and the Future Will Judge This as a Key Moment in Environmental Crimes
The answer to that question will decide whether the globe faces a future of catastrophic climate devastation associated with global warming of 3 degrees Celsius or higher, or a more manageable warming of 2 degrees or below. The future will judge America on this issue.
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Do you think this is an important issue? Share it with your network.
How do you feel with breaking our promise to the Paris accord of 2015? Will less environmental regulations really create more jobs? Why are we not focusing on green technology more?
CTO @ Rapid Response Monitoring
7 年Leaders of US businesses and consumers can drive the adoption green Energy with or without policy from DC.
“Nothing does more to influence how we feel about life, and ourselves, than the way we are treated”
7 年Believe what you will, but the fact remains that policy drives change. I personally feel that it is the governments responsibility to develop policies that encourage behavior that protects human health and the quality of our environment. Maybe I'm just too idealistic?
Enterprise Application Software
7 年Embarrassing. Short-sighted. Polemical. My children and grandchildren will pay dearly if it isn't treated with the seriousness it deserves. Both in terms of economic and physical health.
Catalyst For Innovation, Investments & Commercialization
7 年Charged argument but sense says to bet on risk management just in case -- In the meantime, if Trump wants to bring back coal to help miners fine, but he should also give out research dollars to create science pathways to clean coal (there are patents already) and that way be a jobs hero on both sides of the argument...
Public Speaker
7 年Is our society willing to leave our descendants a hot and toxic world for the sake of short term corporate profit?