Popovich, N. Plumer, B. (2020 September 17) What Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Mean for Global Warming. Retrieved February 14, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/17/climate/emissions-trump-rollbacks-deregulation.html
Donald Trump reversed and changed a number of environmental regulations during his time in office. In the long run, this would increase greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere greatly. These came in the form of rollbacks, changing fuel-economy standards, and decreasing regulations for methane leakage. In addition, Trump withdrew the United States out of the Paris Accords, ruining decades of work and regulation that countless countries came together to create.
This has a huge impact on every other country on the planet. Just because it is one country that is reducing its regulations does not mean that the rest of the globe is not affected. The United States is one of the largest countries in the world, and one of the countries most inclined to consumerism and greenhouse gas emissions. When a country as large as the United States decides to withdraw from previous agreements about climate change, they affect everyone’s health and the health of the planet. In addition, being as large as powerful as it is, the country is typically one to set an example for smaller and developing countries. Trump’s actions do not send a good message out to the rest of the world.
Your perspective on how as a large country we should be setting a precedent for others is interesting. It is an intimidating problem to fix when the President does something like leave the Paris Accords, as there is constant controversy around what the US’s role is in climate change. How do you think leaving the agreement specifically impacted climate for the worse?
This article is really proving the hypocrisy from these larger countries that heavily impact the environment like the US, India (who is one of 3 countries who didn’t sign on, but are the second highest in global emissions), as well as some european countries who all complain and express the urgency of this situation, yet are reluctant to do much about it. It’s sad and disappointing, this is a global project, we all have to work together. Do you think with the US rejoining the Paris Accords, are there goals more attainable ?