In pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Accord on Global Climate Change, and even by threatening to do so, President Trump is creating damage somewhere between a disaster and a catastrophe.
Obviously, refusal to curb its greenhouse gases by the world’s second biggest polluter (us) will accelerate global warming’s impacts – sea level rise, severe storms, droughts, floods, and extinctions of endangered species.
But that’s not all. The environmental denier is also ceding America’s leadership in the world. No more will other countries follow our lead, or even agree to cooperate with us, having seen that at any time our serial bankruptee can pull out, rescind, and cancel our agreed-upon responsibilities.
But wait, there’s more. We are loosing the competition to lead the next technological revolution, that of sustainable energy production. China now leads in solar, Denmark in wind, the Netherlands in tides. America leads in turning backward and inward.
As our planet’s temperature increases, we will suffer more destruction from hurricanes, flooding, drought and fires. The productive jobs not created by committing to sustainable energy will require jobs to clean up debris, fight fires, build seawalls and bury victims.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
