photo above: Global temperature data shows that 2020 was tied for the hottest year on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Service and other monitors.
WN: I’ll say it bluntly: I have two close relatives who deny entirely–no nuance even–the information in the highlighted article . . . I keep shaking my head in complete incredulity . . .
The upcoming election is a critical event especially because of its implications on climate change. The danger of another four years of a Trump administration is plausibly existential. The evidence is clear. The administration exited the Paris Accord, a weakaccordcharacteristically, while proceeding to ramp up oil and gas production. At the same time, the Trump administration recently announced efforts to deregulate protections regarding oil and gas production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. These measures have been in place since the Eisenhower administration.
“There’s no good time to open up America’s largest wildlife refuge to drilling and fracking, but it’s absolutely bonkers to endanger this beautiful place during a worldwide oil glut,” remarked Kristen Monsell, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organisation. This is concurrent theme of the administration’s first term.
This is a continuing trend. The New York Timesreported that the administration has reversed 19 air pollution and emissions rules, 11 rules on drilling, 11 on animals, four on water pollution, and six rules on toxic substances and safety—totalling 68 rule changes and rollbacks all together with 32 others still in progress. These weakened regulations on air and water will disproportionately affect poorer communities, exposing it to harmful toxins. In fact, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Letts, air pollution kills 100,000 to 200,000 excess deaths per year—more than from murders and car crashes combined. Yet, it is important to highlight that not everyone is exposed to poor air quality or suffers from its causes. Air pollution is disproportionately produced by the consumption of goods and services by the white majority, but disproportionately inhaled by black and Hispanic minorities (and low-income communities). In fact, this extends to climate change overall. The poorer communities will face its impacts the hardest—health, economics, and overall quality of life—are all far more severe on underprivileged communities in the US and the world.
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Moreover, contrary to the administration’s proposals and actions, the US public favours an international binding treaty in curbing greenhouse gas emissions while holding favourable views on solar energy, the Green New Deal, and stronger fuel-efficiency standards on cars and pickup trucks. In fact, a rising number of the population view climate change as a “crisis” while a majority think, accurately, that Trump is doing too little to tackle climate change.
It is no surprise the administration doesn’t reflect any popular support from the population on its climate policies. Yes, both parties have shifted to the right during the neoliberal period. Yet, this modern Republican Party has drifted so far to the right that conservative analysts Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann of the American Enterprise Institute describe it as a “radical insurgency.” It is telling that the Trump re-election campaign doesn’t even offer any climate policies, nor any other policies for that matter.
Rajko Kolundzic is an American university student at the University of Essex in the UK, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
Wayne Northey was Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in British Columbia, Canada from 1998 to 2014, when he retired. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of Restorative Justice since 1974. He has published widely on peacemaking and justice themes. You will find more about that on this website: a work in progress.
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