Paris – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

John Oliver Blasts ‘F–king Egomaniac’ Trump for Leaving Paris Climate Accord

David Posnett — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 19:06:15 +0000

By now we should all know, the Paris agreement was about “2 degrees Celsius”. If global warming exceeds these 2 extra degrees things become irreversible. Bad things.

Most people understand this, which is why it was possible (although not easy) to get nearly all nations to sign on to the Paris agreement (except for Nicaragua and Syria).

You can look at the list of nearly all major companies that are highly critical of the latest Trump move, you can take a look at the first ever tweet of Lloyd Blandfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs):

“Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world. #ParisAgreement” (Note: Lloyd Blankfein had never used twitter before, this was his first tweet and it got over 10,000 retweets and 23,000 likes.)

or you can check the fact checkers on Trumps speech trying to justify his (or Bannon’s?) move. It is apparently full of lies and deceptions:

and the list goes on and on…

Or you can just throw up your arms in despair (as I did) and watch this by John Oliver! It is better for your mental health and you might even smile!

Finally, if you care about what Europeans think of all this, and if you like opera, check this out! (Courtesy of Margaret Backman).

Trump has damaged America, not the environment

David Posnett — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 13:08:01 +0000

Tobias Stone

Posted on The Medium

Jun 2

Trump has spent his life being powerful just because he is rich. And in America, wealth is everything. If you’re rich you are powerful and revered. The American Dream was never about becoming a professor or scientist, it is about becoming rich. That was the crux of his campaign message — I am rich, therefore I am successful and clever.

We are now in no doubt that rich is all he is. Any idea that after election a hidden clever Trump would emerge from behind the bombastic facade is long gone.

Trump knows that at the level of his personal experience (and his knowledge seems to be almost entirely limited to his personal experience) his wealth has given him clout and made him powerful. As he said himself (about grabbing women), in his world when you’re rich you can get away with anything. He has taken this idea into his Presidency, assuming that because America is the largest economy in the world, it will also by default be the most powerful and influential.

With his withdrawal from the Paris accord he has discovered that wealth alone does not equate to power or influence on the global stage. America under Trump has given up its position of moral leadership, and has shown the world it no longer wants to occupy that position. Overnight, Trump created a power vacuum at a global level. It looks like China and Europe are stepping in to fill it. This could, in the future, be seen as a turning point in the decline of America; the point at which America went it alone, and stepped out of the most important global movement of our times, and of future times.

Despite the rage burning in the stomach of any thinking person, anyone who believes the earth is round and the future is bleak, this could be a good thing in the long term.

America produces 14% of global emissions, so the remainder is still being addressed by other nations. Meanwhile, America’s abdication from the throne of Global Leader seems to have inspired China to make a grab for the crown, possibly triggering something of a competition to out-Green America, and become a global clean-energy leader. This is a good thing.

America will take 4 years to drop out of the Accord, and will finish the process the day after the next American Election, so in fact this may just be an even shorter term vision than we realised, one intended to appeal to Trump’s coal-digging, truck-driving, oil-drilling constituency as a great soundbite, but which will actually not affect anything. One can hope.

Otherwise, If Trump actually manages to make any of this happen, it is clear that any revival of the Coal industry that he somehow brings around will be undermined by the fact that clean energy will become cheaper than coal, and that clean energy race will now more likely be won by China, further undermining Trump’s goals of a stronger economy and more balance of trade. There will come a time when his broke coal miners will have to buy Chinese solar panels.

In fact, provided the global coalition around the Paris Accord holds together, which it shows surprising signs of doing, then America dropping out will not be a trigger for its collapse. And if American States and companies continue to honour the Accord, then Trump’s move may have very little negative impact. However, it has totally undermined American supremacy globally.

His recent foreign trip made America less relevant in Europe and with NATO, not only because of the message he delivered, but because of the way he delivered it. He has left Europe and NATO in no doubt that he is an incompetent fool, so for now at least they will not bother with him. America is therefore less relevant globally. Trump has failed to realise that just turning up as the richest guy in the room doesn’t win you power or influence on the global stage. Being wise and mixing might with genuine leadership has made America significant up until now. Trump has blown that in a very short time.

Trump has left the world wide open for new countries and leaders to step into the role America has enjoyed since the war. That global leadership not only cost America money, it also won it influence and made it matter in a way that made it money — American goods, American films, America as a destination, all of these things were the pay-back.

One imagines that global leaders, apart from a few of the worst dictators, are now just putting America on hold until it removes Trump. China has stepped in to show leadership in climate change, alongside Merkel, who is now seen by most as the Leader of the Free World.

Trump is doing incredible damage to his own country, and most of all to his own voters. The extent of his narcissism and egotism is shown in this latest move, as it will bring him benefit in the short term, by shoring up his core vote, but will damage America and his voter base in the long term — but by then he’ll be dead, so he clearly doesn’t care.

As for those around him, the real blame falls at the feet of Fox News and the Republicans who are still supporting him. Surely they can’t all be as stupid and egocentric as Trump. Some of them must know what they are doing. Or are they all in fact ignorant, uneducated, and uncaring about anyone other than themselves?

Either way, they have blown it. The Paris accord will carry on, and the rest of the world will continue to fight global warming. They will be led by China, Germany, and France. China does incredibly well being able to stand on the same stage as respected, mature, leaders like Merkel, and be so associated with Europe as a partner in an honourable cause. America meanwhile will continue to decline under Trump. The democracy continues to be weakened, and with it America’s ability to be a relevant and significant country globally. The impact of climate change, and the leadership now shown by China and Europe will damage American businesses, in a country built on oil and petrol cars. They may still have a lot of bombs, and lots of money, but America is no longer taken seriously globally. Trump’s voters wanted isolationism, and now they have it. But it’s not protectionism, it’s just self-harm.

President Trump’s Paris decision will live in infamy

David Posnett — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 21:01:11 +0000

Slamming the global environment

BY FRED KRUPP

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, June 1, 2017, 3:30 PM

President Trump’s reckless decision to leave the Paris climate agreement will live in infamy.

This is a retreat from America’s role as world leader — one that ignores overwhelming scientific evidence and the advice of more than 1,000 business leaders who urged him stand up for our clean energy economy.

It will hurt the U.S. far more than it hurts the rest of the world. And that’s saying a lot, because the global damage will indeed be considerable.

The most obvious consequence, for people everywhere, will be a slowdown in the fight to reduce the pollution that causes climate change — at the very moment we need to step up. That will mean more deaths from heat waves, extreme weather and disease; a deepening refugee crisis as populations shift in reaction to weather and agricultural changes, and an increase in the price we must pay to solve this problem.

Such pollution already take a toll on public health. The President’s retreat in the face of climate change means Americans must now continue to breathe dirty emissions from power plants and cars.

What will we say to our children and grandchildren when they ask: “Why did you do so little to avert a crisis you could have prevented?”

Trump’s misguided decision will also fuel resentment toward the United States and make things more difficult for American business.

Businesses want to locate where their markets are. By pulling out of the Paris climate accord, Trump sends them a clear signal that clean energy companies should look elsewhere.

We’ll be hobbled in the global race for clean energy businesses and jobs, potentially the most important economic prize of the 21st century. China and Europe are already vying for the leadership role on clean energy that the president just ceded. That’s why so many investors and CEOs were urging the president to stay in. Fortunately, the Paris Agreement is strong enough to withstand this blow. Other world leaders have made it clear they will move ahead on their Paris commitments with our without the U.S.

The European Union and China are reportedly preparing to announce new joint climate actions as I write. By pulling out of the deal, we are isolating ourselves diplomatically and economically while siding with the only two outlier nations — Syria and Nicaragua — that refused to sign the climate pact.

It did not have to be this way.

For decades, the world struggled to come together to face the threat of climate change. Nations argued over who was responsible and who should contribute to the solution. Developing nations pointed the finger at the advanced economies that had already emitted so much. Those countries, in turn, demanded that the fastest-growing developing countries also do their part.

Finally, in 2015, virtually every country in the world — big and small, rich and poor — came together in an unprecedented show of global unity and made a deal that allowed each country to make its own plan, but also held them accountable for reducing pollution.

This historic breakthrough brought tremendous international credit to the country that helped pull the world together: the United States.

Now that Trump has turned his back on all of that, his decision to shirk U.S. leadership responsibilities will hover over diplomatic discussions, trade negotiations and major business deals. We will be the only major nation dodging our duties, something other countries won’t forget.

Our President has made a reckless, unforced error.

This is the latest in a series of administration decisions that move us backward on climate, public health and the environment.

The President wants to slash the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s budget by almost one-third, and his EPA chief — who advocated for withdrawal from Paris — is busy dismantling the environmental standards that keep our air and water clean and safe.

Trump’s announcement must not, and will not, be the last word on whether America leads or retreats on climate change.

Companies such as Citigroup are already saying the private sector should be able to participate in the Paris climate deal. Many of them have emissions reductions targets similar to the Paris commitments made by nations.

Businesses, engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists — indeed, all of us — must continue to pursue practical solutions to reduce the pollution that is driving climate change at such a dangerous pace.

If there can be a silver lining to this day, it will be that Trump’s retreat from the Paris climate accord becomes a galvanizing moment for the majority of Americans who support clean energy and climate action.

As these women and men stand up for their children and adopt clean energy in their own lives, they will join the myriad cities, states, companies, and nations around the world who are leading the way to a cleaner, healthier future even as the president tries to go backward.

Krupp is president of the Environmental Defense Fund.