On some fronts, Team Trump has been great on smacking down anthropogenic climate change as it relates to the government spending taxpayer money and forcing compliance by citizens and private entities. On the other hand, Trump still hasn’t kept his promise to kill America’s involvement in the Paris Climate Agreement, and this
(LA Times) U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed his name Thursday to a document that affirms the need for international action against climate change, adding further uncertainty to the direction of climate policy under the Trump administration.
The document, signed by Tillerson and seven foreign ministers from Arctic nations meeting this week in Fairbanks, Alaska, says the participants concluded their meeting “noting the entry into force of the Paris agreement on climate change and its implementation, and reiterating the need for global action to reduce both long-lived greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants.â€
Called the Fairbanks Declaration, the document says the leaders signed it “recognizing that activities taking place outside the Arctic region, including activities occurring in Arctic states, are the main contributors to climate change effects and pollution in the Arctic, and underlining the need for action at all levels.â€
So, um, what exactly is going on?
“In the United States, we are currently reviewing several important policies, including how the Trump administration will approach the issue of climate change. We’re appreciative that each of you has an important point of view and you should know that we are taking the time to understand your concerns. We’re not going to rush to make a decision. We’re going to work to make the right decision,†he added, pausing ever so briefly before ending with the phrase, “for the United States.â€
Tillerson was certainly referring to ecological change, but, there is some conflict as to what extent he was discussing ‘climate change.’ This group needs to get it together.
There exists a small band of powerful yet willfully ignorant climate change deniers, some motivated by business concerns, their followers by ideological reasons. Slightly more sophisticated people, e.g., Rex Tillerson, recognize the threat of global warming. trump will support whatever his most vocal and adoring supporters want. He may fire Secretary Tillerson if Tillerson shows signs of thinking for himself.
trump P.T. Barnum’ed you guys. He wanted to be elected but has little interest in governing. His only philosophy is what’s good for him.
Sure, climate changes – it’s always been changing _lots_ without any influence from us. Just look at these historical temperature measurements derived from Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet drill samples: http://www.jpattitude.com/IceCore/graph1.htm
The warming that we have seen over the past 200 years is not out of the ordinary in any way. It is neither unprecedented nor a crisis – the Earth has been both much warmer and much colder in the recent past, and CO2 has historically been both much higher and much lower than today. Since warm interglacials generally only last 10,000 years or so, you should welcome more warming because an Ice Age will be definitely be a crisis.
I’m still waiting for this guy to start cleaning the swamp.. to start thinning the size of the fed gov.
He needs to start gutting and closing.
Captainfish,
Trump sold his blue collar supporters a bill of goods, telling them what they wanted to hear so he could get what he wanted – power, prestige and money. trump was going to show those smart-aleck elites that considered him a punchline to a joke a thing or two. Now 60% of Americans consider him a threat to the nation. He has no steadfast philosophy of governance – he would triple the size of the federal gov’t if he thought it benefited him.
He will not drain the swamp, but intends to refill it with his cronies and family. trump has spent a lifetime working with crooked politicians, conmen and criminals around the globe – he has no moral compass to guide him now.
There was one populist in the primaries, Senator Sanders, and he is neither Democrat nor Republican, he is an Independent. His policy prescriptions would help the working classes in the long run. But he did not preach white nationalism.