Climate change ... it’s all fake news
HE decade is coming to an end and in its wake is an era on a par with the revolutionary changes of the sixties.
The #MeToo movement has brought justice to women, social media changed the definition of fame, the smartphone connected us all, and fidget spinners left the world transfixed.
But despite all the positives the 2010s have given us, one big negative is that we have ignored global warming.
The decade will go down in history as the time when we knew what was going to hit us hardest but did nothing about it.
To think that just four years ago, the then leader of the free world was as committed to global leadership as he was serious about climate change.
At a conference in Paris in December 2015, after decades of frustrated hopes, Barack Obama, along with other world leaders, committed to reducing the greenhouse-gas emissions that endanger human civilisation.
It was an issue I admit to previously paying little attention to. But during the last decade in which I’ve seen for myself, the Amazon burn, the Arctic ice caps melt and Britain’s dirty plastic blight the streets of the Far East, I have been spurred on into acting more responsibly towards the planet.
The urgent need to cut down on our waste and reduce our carbon emissions must not be underestimated.
But when you look at what happened last week, during the final days of the United Nationssponsored climate talks in Madrid, it is no wonder teenagers like Greta Thunberg are skipping school to take up the cause.
Whereas Obama once led the world in its fight against climate change, US representatives in Spain not only refused to lead, they pushed in the opposite direction.
The environmental train that was once the Paris agreement, now has its wheels firmly coming off, and it is Donald Trump, who is driving.
Whether it be leaving the accord, rolling back on clean power, repealing rules that aim to restrict methane leaks, lifting restrictions on coal rules or cutting clean water protection, the President’s record on the environment is there for everyone to see.
This week, Trump, who calls
As Australia suffers record temperatures and bushfires claim six lives, burn more than 3,000,000 hectares and destroy 700-plus homes, the leader of the free world shows no concern for the future of the planet climate change a “hoax”, has spent Amid the discouraging another week rage-tweeting, as the developments in Madrid, the world continues to warm. European Union this past week
He launched a personal attack on adopted the aim of producing no net Thunberg saying she has as an carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. “anger management problem”, “Our goal is to reconcile our adding the environmental activist economy with our planet, and make needs to “chill”. it work for our people,” said
His latest cyber assault on the European Commission President 16-year-old comes against the Ursula von der Leyen. backdrop of his wife’s internet It is impossible to imagine those anti-bullying campaign. words coming from Trump as
Under Trump, America no longer Americans have to look across an cares to lead the world on pressing ocean for global leadership on one issues. Obama and Chinese of the world’s most pressing issues. President Xi Jinping agreed on major Not only did the past decade bring emissions commitments leading us climate change ignorance it also into Paris, paving the way for the saw reality TV move into the White broader international pact. House. And throughout his time in
Trump, on the other hand, shows office, Trump’s policies have been to no concern for the future of the put “America first” and Mother planet. Nature second.