Amongst the many changes that have already been made under the Trump Administration, there has been a shutdown of the USAID. This is the United States Agency for International Development which deals with the nation’s foreign assistance for countries who are less prosperous. The United States missions under this government program extends to over 100 countries to attempt to support them after disasters or for poverty relief. Both areas are extremely related to climate change because many of the disasters that strike these countries are caused by the climate crisis but then the citizens there are too poor to afford restoration or relocation. For example, in Zimbabwe, the agency has spent a great sum of money trying to make the area more flood resilient. The increase in rainfall and flash floods has been hard on this lower-middle-income country.
Immediate Drawbacks
Now, this sounds like a beneficial program, but Trump has frozen the USAID for financial reasons. The budget exceeds fifty billion dollars, leading the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, to draw attention to how there could be corruption within it. Shutting down a huge, national agency has clear drawbacks. The shutdown is new as of this week, but the effects are already evident. Thousands of employees have been laid off and even senior members, who are the “lucky” ones of this, have been placed on leave. Even their website is disabled and instead only shows a notice of the global leave.
Relation to Climate Crisis
So, what does this have to do with climate change? Well, the USAID largely focused on ways to combat climate change, such as expanding renewable energy and conserving landscapes. Beyond reduction of the issue, this agency also gave billions to low-income countries who have been experiencing climate-related disasters, like Zimbabwe mentioned earlier. The agency focuses on global environmental health and looks to build relationships with less able nations who are being negatively affected by these rising temperatures. This sort of worldwide, joint commitment to combatting climate change has so much potential if managed well. Abandoning this agency and all that it has worked for is a similar blow to the world and the environment, just as Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement was.
Why Shutdown this Agency?
Trump’s reasoning for stepping back from climate actions like the USAID and Paris Agreement was money. He and his peers felt that these were both wasting the American dollar. There was questioning as to whether the USAID had efficient spending and ultimately Trump chose to take it out of the annual budget negotiations.
What to Expect
Without this program, we can expect thousands of people to experience climate related disasters that they cannot recover from due to the poverty-stricken reality of their nations. Going off what Nomad Century has alluded to; we can also anticipate more emergency-based climate migration. It is all a cycle, and the less people invest in and prioritize prevention, the more we will be left to deal with complete restoration.
I never knew what the United States agency for International Development was until I read your blog post. It's incredibly scary to think that we as a country are pulling out of so many beneficial programs and laws. The picture you used showing the message of global leave is incredibly scary.
ReplyDeleteIt is upsetting to know that something that was once beneficial to nations most severely impacted by climate change at the present is being shut down. Like mentioned before in this post, and is a recurrent theme in Nomad Century- programs and agencies like USAID that bring us all together to combat climate change are important in efficiently mitigating the climate crisis and begin to open those with closed minds to the fact that action towards climate change needs to be cooperative globally.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing up this information as I wasn't aware of the far reaching impacts of USAID. Without the connection to disaster relief in other countries, we are not a respectable first world power. No one should be solely in charge of ending programs like this, especially when they are contributing to this much global good. How does America expect to get the help it needs in climate change crisis, if this is how we are treating our allies. Without cooperation, natural disasters sprung on by climate change could decimate large populations who rely on monetary and food/water-based support.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! This blog really emphasizes how interconnected climate change, poverty, and global aid are. The shutdown of USAID isn’t just about budget cuts; it’s about leaving vulnerable communities without the resources they need to recover from climate disasters.
ReplyDeleteUSA's emission do not only affect itself. USAID helps combat are impact on other countries. Helping out countries that are dealing with climate change. Great post.
ReplyDeleteIt's a horrible thing for the USAID to be getting shut down, it was helping so many people, I feel like the current adminsitation thinks that anything that involves climate change is a waste of money.
ReplyDeleteI agree, after reading Nomad Century assisting other countries and trying to improve the livelihood of people in other countries helps not only the other country but also the United States. It seems like it was stolen from the U.S. and potentially receiving countries.
ReplyDeleteas soon as Trump got into office he changed so much, its like we took several steps back. I didn't know to the extent of which we were helping, WOW
ReplyDeleteIt is truly unbelievable that the United States would contribute so much to climate change with our awful policies, our greed, and our wastefulness and then pull out of helping places that need it the most. It feels like everyday we are slowly getting worse and worse and it will only end in our demise.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know anything about USAID prior to reading this blog post, so I had no idea how significantly people will be impacted by it being shut down. Not only is our country a mass polluter, but one of the ways we can give aid to other countries affected by the action of our own being shut down will likely have major effects.
ReplyDeleteIt's horrifying that so many businesses and companies can shut down and dismantle places that would actually help and make a difference in the world. I had never heard of USAID before reading, and now I know much more than I thought was going on in the world. It is a very scary time we live in.
ReplyDeleteThis is so frustrating to hear about, a common theme I've noticed in recent reading and blog posts is that the US has a disproportionate negative effect on the climate crisis and this program seems like a great way to take some responsibility and support those impacted by it. I hope that this shutdown does not remain permanent.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first hearing about USAID, and it is extremely disheartening to read that Trump has pulled our country from it. Without the assistance and aid from rich countries like the U.S., many of these countries will soon be forced to migrate due to unlivable conditions, and then what will Trump do then?
ReplyDeleteA reasonable question is: all of these cuts in government spending, what is the purpose or the plan? And, the answer is pretty clear - cut spending to that the government can cut taxes. And Trump's tax cuts have very clearly gone to the wealthiest. So cut taxes on the wealthest by taking resources targeted to the poorest people on the planet. And my understanding is that Trump and the Republican Party consider themselves to be Christians; I guess not the kind of Christians I learned about in church school.
ReplyDeleteThe shutdown of this agency is blatantly unconstitutional and yet there seems to be minimal pushback. Even a lower court has said that the so-called 'Doge' team is able to buy out workers and kick them from their positions. It's worrying at best and deadly at worst. I can only hope that other countries will pick up the slack that the US selfishly put down.
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