A new yet familiar face
The year of 2025 has begun, and
with it, a new administration will take charge of the United States. It has a
familiar face: Donald Trump. The controversial president-elect may be starting
a new term, but has pledged to uphold policies and viewpoints that first appeared
during the 2016-2020 presidency. Unlike his previous term, however, Trump and
his incoming administration will have very few guardrails in place to prevent
him and his allies from taking unprecedented action.
Revisiting Trump's Record
During the 2016-2020 term, Trump made it clear as to how he viewed the ongoing climate crisis. He attacked the phenomenon as ‘fake news’ and made it out to be a scare tactic used by radicals. Additionally, he received millions of dollars in donations from the oil industry, and favors the industry’s deregulation and expansion.
Trump also pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Conference during his first term in office as President, which meant forgoing the country's promises to aid in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Since then, President Joe Biden has re-entered the agreement during his term. That is not expected to hold true when Trump resumes office later this January.
 |
| The figure above, from the New York Times, showcases record warm averages. There is a notable jump in average temperatures starting in 2016, when Trump began to roll back air pollution standards. |
Continuing the trend of denial
In fact, recent comments suggest that the president-elect has no intention to shift his course in regard to climate policy, and stands poised to enable a regression in the United States’ climate action.
Already, Trump has shared a number of his top picks and candidates to hold various offices and powerful positions, most of them staunch supporters of the president-elect. This includes Russell Vought, his presumptuous nomination for the Office of Management and Budget.
 |
| Russel Vought, nomination for the Office of Management and Budget. The significance of the OMB nominee |
Vought has significance in that he has Trump’s ear in regard to how the U.S federal government oversees climate research, namely the U.S Global Climate Change Research Program. It is this program that produces the National Climate Assessment, where research is collected, organized, and summarized into a comprehensive report of the Earth’s climate health and its direction.
Vought would instead have the report source its information and conclusions from scientists that are known to go against the scientific consensus. Such scientists use either falsified or biased data to put forth misleading and incorrect claims about the climate crisis and how it will impact the world in the future.
Trump has also made promises along his recent campaign trail to embrace carbon-emitting fuel sources, and encourage acceleration of domestic oil and gas production. It would be completely counterproductive to combating climate change. The burning of oil and gas is precisely what’s responsible for the climate crisis of today, by releasing carbon dioxide- a potent greenhouse gas- during its incomplete combustion within engines and power plants.
Unfortunately, there are many things that Trump and his various advisors and allies have pledged to do that would impose massive setbacks to progress on tackling the climate crisis, of which may not all fit within a blog post.
Hope must be clung to, however, as giving up cannot be what we choose. We may yet adapt to our ever-warming future, and try to take further measures to lessen climate change’s impact once a different administration is in power, and a different Congress is able to vote in favor of preserving our future.
I also wrote on how damaging the Trump administration is and the impacts he has with his policies as well as the little work he has done to be involved with green acts and foreign countries' climate change goals. Great post! I wonder how the differences would compare between the Biden v trump parties.
ReplyDeleteI think that regardless of anyones politics this is an extremely important blog. I think that globally every individual should be made more aware of the rising issues around the world, more specifically I feel that the United States citizens should be more worried than they are.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog is really important, the gears of government move very slow and they have other plans in the world other than the environment, but I feel like that should be something at the top of their list, especially before we hit a point of no return for the Earth's rising temperatures. Hopefully we can come together as a country and get things done.
ReplyDeleteHey Ayla,
ReplyDeleteThis is such great writing and so scary for the future of our country. What is to stop bigger companies from completely destroying our world and way of life? Thanks for laying out the information that I may not have read.
Hey Ayla,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about some frightening predictions for what is to come under the Trump Administration and also read a lot about his plans to lean further into carbon-emitting fuel sources. I think I really worrying point that was brought up in my reading was that since the U.S. is already a major factor in the climate crisis our inaction sends a really bad message to the rest of the world. I appreciate you going into depth and explaining Vought's position and the implications his appointment hold. It's important to know the bias' and history of our politicians so that context can be added accordingly to their reports/findings.
I loved this explanation and the writing was fantastic. Next time I think adding more graphics or moving some of the text around would make this post pop. It is always disheartening to watch people blindly follow the rhetoric of Trump's campaign and promises. When someone this high up in power is denying the existence of the very real climate change phenomena, it lessons the chances that the world will join together to create substantial change. Not only is Trump individually pulling the country away from climate change solutions, but he is adding individuals who feel similarly to positions of power, who will ensure that the landscapes we treasure will be decimated by oil drilling.
ReplyDeleteIt is scary that we are moving against mitigating the effects of climate change. I also think that the disinformation that is being spread through our next president is equally alarming. Climate denial is already a huge problem in this country and this will only add to it.
ReplyDeleteVery troubling to stop gathering international climate data, and to turn to unreliable resources for research. This takes the whole planet backward, not just the US!
ReplyDeleteI like how you ended the blog with a bit of hope and encouragement of the solution to the problem. Do you think Trump or any of his allies will acknowledge the climate clock?
ReplyDeleteRegrettably, I have my suspicions that the climate clock means nothing to Trump and his allies. For many of the older folk he chooses to surround himself with, they- I don't mean to be grim but- they simply won't be alive to see the worst effects of climate change. They are so focused on lining their pockets and gathering power that they neglect their duty to protect us and the world.
Delete