Donald J. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” now means that the United States of America will sit on the sidelines while the rest of the world wages war against climate change.
This isn’t surprising. Neither is it acceptable in any form or fashion.
The president today announced his decision to pull out of the Paris Accords, which aligns more than 190 nations in the fight against climate change.
It isn’t, as opponents have contended, a top-down edict forcing nations to adhere to some sort of global mandate. The agreement, hammered out among the participating nations, allows for individual countries to adapt to policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and scale back on the myriad causes of climate change and, yes, the warming climate.
Scientists around the world have concluded that human activity has played a major role in the changing climate. The Paris Accords are meant to bring nations together to hold humans accountable for their actions.
The United States is the big dog on the planet. We are the greatest nation on Earth and we need a place at the world’s table.
The president today just pushed us away from that table. Why? To satisfy the electoral base that help elect him.
This is a sad day for those of us who are concerned about the fate of the world.
This isn’t how the greatest nation in that world is supposed to lead it.