During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, a common theme among the candidates was that the U.S. needed to scale back efforts to combat climate change because one country can’t go it alone. The candidates’ thoughts were that other countries were still polluting, so why should the U.S. “destroy our economy” to address climate change?

The only problem with this talking point is that it simply isn’t true. In fact, thanks to President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back some of the most aggressive climate protections enacted by former President Obama, the U.S. is now the country appearing to take a lackadaisical approach toward climate change.

On Tuesday, March 28, Donald Trump unveiled an executive order that will initiate a “review” of the Clean Power Plan. The order will also force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review all environmental regulations and safety standards to determine which ones are the most detrimental to U.S. jobs. According to the administration, the desire to scale back environmental protections, and part of the reasoning behind the proposed 31 percent cut in EPA funding, is to help bring back American jobs that were allegedly destroyed by these environmental safeguards (again, another talking point that has been thoroughly debunked.)

The irony with Trump’s dismantling of EPA programs and protections is that the United States is now guilty of what Republicans have been accusing other countries of doing, which is letting polluters call the shots with no regard for the environment. And just like Republicans were angry when they believed the U.S. was acting on climate while no one else was, leaders around the globe are furious about the Trump administration’s decisions to scale back environmental protections that undermine international climate agreements.

Scientists and elected officials in Europe were quick to speak out about the Trump administration’s plans to cut U.S.climate protections, saying that the United States, once a leader on these issues, is now moving backwards at a time when everyone else is making forward progress.

Thomas Stocker, a former co-chair of the United Nations scientific panel on climate change, said that Trump’s actions show that the United States has abdicated its position as a global leader on the issue of climate change and environmental protection. Stocker said that other countries will now have to step in and serve as a leader on this issue.

Germany's environment minister, Barbara Hendricks, echoed Stocker’s claims by saying that any country that begins moving backwards rather than forward is going to be working against its own self interests. Hendricks also pointed out that the renewable energy sector across the globe has been adding jobs at an astonishing rate, a trend that the United States may now miss out on thanks to the actions of President Trump.

Other countries are already showing far more leadership than the United States. For example, China announced plansearlier this year to replace a fleet of nearly 70,000 fossil-fueled taxis in Beijing with an all-electric fleet in the near future. India has set a goal of achieving 60 percent renewable energy by the year 2027, which would lead to a dramatic reduction in carbon emissions.

So while other countries are stepping up to address the global climate challenge, the United States is now on course to reverse years of moderate progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and related air pollution tied to burning fossil fuels. 

“This president wants to return to the days of toxic dumping free-for-alls, black spewing smokestacks, and increasing rates of asthma for children in the most vulnerable neighborhoods across the country — all for the sake of corporate profits for his friends,” Lindsey Allen, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, said in a statement.

With President Trump's shift to supporting fossil fuels and away from renewable energy, environmental groups also warned of how that would impact the economy.

In a message sent to supporters, the Climate Reality Project president and CEO Ken Berlin said, “While there is no doubt these executive actions will be challenged in court, it’s clear the administration is doing everything in its power to weaken efforts to fight the climate crisis … Unfortunately, the administration continues to fail to recognize that when clean energy loses, the American economy loses.”

read more:

https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/03/28/donald-trump-jeopardizes-america-g...

There’s plenty to talk about. Anzac Day talk is about life in the forces, but war in this century is also about terrorism and civil conflict. To add to the confusion we’ve invented new wars – on crime, drugs, diseases and the like – as a way of saying that we have a real battle on our hands.

The climate war is such a conflict. It is a war within and against ourselves, demanding new rules and paradigms. It will be the longest of all our long wars, and will have no decisive conclusion.

This war is being fought on many levels, from individual action all the way up to multi-national arrangements. It has no defined combatants, and the only clear boundary is our planet itself.

As is often the way with wars, the greatest impact of this one will be on young people, already under the hammer from various socio-economic pressures. When we make a decision about getting involved, their needs should be uppermost in our minds.

The best measure of success in this war is carbon dioxide emissions. In Australia, official data indicate some progress, with overall emissions down by over 15 per cent since 2005. But it’s worth unpacking that data. I’m using analysis by Melbourne-based carbon consultants Ndevr.

Science and other authorities say we need to cut emissions at an accelerating rate, but in Australia the reverse seems to be happening. All of that emissions decline happened before 2014. Since then our emissions have remained unchanged, or in some sectors even risen slightly.

Unpacking further, we find just one sector – forest management – that’s shown any marked decline, but most of that happened before 2011. There’s been little to show since, despite some big spending out of the Emissions Reduction Fund on projects to manage trees, land, soil and waste.

read more:

http://southwind.com.au/2017/04/25/this-is-a-war-we-must-fight-and-win/

John Passant looks back at the neoliberal year of 2017 and finds a steady, global undercurrent of resistance for trickle-down campaigns of the kind favoured by the Coalition Government.

WHAT A YEAR! Internationally, we had Mister Tangerine Man ruining everything he touched — or should that be, grabbed? 

From North Korea to Mexico, from China to Europe, President Trump is a threat to world peace. He makes Kim Jong-un look rational.

As Stephen King said:

“That this guy [Trump] has his finger on the nuclear trigger is worse than any horror story I ever wrote.”

Trump’s ideology is also destroying global attempts – possibly too late anyway – to address climate change. Trump’s action in withdrawing the U.S. from the inadequate Paris Climate Change Accordputs humanity’s survival at even greater risk.

The man is a dangerous imbecile, as this tweet shows...

Trump’s ideology is also destroying the U.S. working class and poor, making them poorer and poorer while the rich get richer, thanks to his tax cuts and to low or falling wages.

The situation in Australia is similar.

The Turnbull Government is, perhaps, a more "sensible" version of Trumpism. However, the Australian Government is in lockstep with the U.S. on war, climate change denialism, and attacking the poor and working class.

The Australian Government’s actions – including the U.S. spy base at Pine Gap and our troops, planes and ships in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere – are part of the U.S. alliance that threatens world peace. The Government’s inaction on climate change and its addiction to coal are Trumpism writ small.

Turnbull’s domestic policies can best be summed up as Trump-like — making the rich richer and the poor and working class, poorer. His tax cuts and proposed tax cuts – like Trump’s – are a massive handout to the rich, many of whom pay little or no tax anyway.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/2017-a-year-o...

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