Trump vs America and the planet

It’s World Environment Day today and the planet has been given a slap by Mr. Trump. By opting out of the Paris Treaty, he has shown the poorest form of leadership — as if those hit by climate change don’t matter.

The angry response from his own citizens to his reference to Pittsburg vs Paris shows he doesn’t care about America either ; “Steel is our history, not our future,” wrote an outraged Beth Skwarecki, in Lifehacker. Her piece used data to point out that in every state, a majority of Americans believed reducing CO2 emissions is something that must be done.

One might reasonably expect that America emits as many greenhouse gas emissions as it pleases, in order to Make America Great Again. But it won’t be easy to bully Americans to do this. Already, states like California, New York and Washington have refused to ignore the Paris Agreement. Cities like Salt Lake, Los Angeles and, of course, a furious Pittsburgh, have signed up to a plan which will still hold America accountable to emissions reductions as promised. Many companies are signing on too.

I am sure we will see increased emissions from the US. Luckily, it’s democracy has kicked in to let the world know there will be serious American efforts without Trump to stay on course. I cannot wait to see how the one truism of our time - climate change - will play out in the post-truth world Trump has contributed to creating. We’re all hoping America’s action will finally make the planet great again.