"Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements"
Another major executive order that Trump signed during his first day in office is directing the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Paris Climate Agreement is a global effort to combat climate change and protect the planet. As part of this agreement, countries create goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, check improve efforts at regular intervals, and require richer countries to help less advantaged ones with funding and technology. While there are no punishments for not meeting goals, there is pressure to do better.
According to the United Nations, its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”
The president has declared an “energy emergency” in the U.S. Trump stated that America has “liquid gold under our feet” and he continues to chant to his supporters, “drill baby, drill.”
People have mixed opinions about pulling out of the Paris Agreement, largely depending on their political views, stance on climate change and economic priorities.
“The Climate Change Agreement was just a way to launder money,” said Cochran.
Most people against the agreement downplay the urgency of climate change or do not believe in it at all.
“It is crucial for the U.S. to participate in the Paris Climate Agreement because climate change needs to be fought, and the planet needs to be protected, especially for the future generations,” said Engel.
The U.S. is one of the world’s largest polluters, and leaving the agreement will encourage other countries to do the same.
In an Forbes article about Trump declaring a US energy emergency, it quotes, "America will be a manufacturing nation once again. We sit on the most oil and natural gas of any nation on earth, and we're going to use it," said Trump.
Turansky believes that Trump does not care about focusing on climate change, and the US will not be making efforts to combat it for the near future.
“I think that Trump is not focusing on climate change,” Turansky said. “In the near future, he is going to make a lot of movements to go against climate change.”
The U.S. withdrawal could slow global climate progress, affect trade and change domestic environmental policies, though individual states and businesses could possibly push forward with sustainability efforts.
