Some Views On Mr. Trump’s Strategy From People Who Know, Unlike Some.

Posted on June 2, 2017 by Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

What organisations think about the Trump policy to pull the plug on Paris:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40128431

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj4x0D890WU

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html?_r=0

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/international/cooperation/china_en

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/first-time-china-and-eu-join-forces-climate

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-eu-climatechange-idUSKBN15G5B3

 

NRDC (USA)

Trump’s Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement Is a Grave Mistake

June 01, 2017 NRDC

The president’s reckless move threatens more than just the environment—it hurts the economy and puts national security at risk.

On the heels of a contentious summit with G7 partners, President Trump announced today that he will pull the United States out from the landmark Paris climate accord, the global agreement to battle climate change that 195 countries signed on to in December 2015. The United States will join only two other countries—Syria and Nicaragua—as non-participants.

“This is a grave mistake that hurts our country—starting now,” NRDC president Rhea Suh said. “Trump’s extremism has isolated us from the global coalition we helped to create—with China, Germany, India, Japan, and 190 other countries—to fight the central environmental challenge of our time. He’s sidelined American workers in the economic play of our lifetime: the clean energy boom that is remaking the world economy. And he’s abandoned our children to climate catastrophe.”

Indeed, withdrawing the United States from the climate agreement will turn us into a global pariah and destroy our international credibility, threatening not just our environment but also our national security. At home, our economy also stands to take a hit: Trump’s decision puts more than a million clean energy jobs at risk. In signing the Paris climate agreement, the United States, the second-largest polluter on the planet, committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent in a decade. Our withdrawal from the agreement will undo years of progress made toward achieving that goal.

“It’s on us now—state and local officials, business leaders, educators, consumers, and moms and dads—to help keep the promise of Paris alive,” Suh said.

 

Greenpeace (UK)

 

Hi Mark,

These are words I hoped I wouldn’t have to write — last night, Donald Trump announced he’ll abandon the Paris climate agreement. In a move that’s been called “one of the most reckless and reprehensible decisions ever made by a US president”, Trump is trying to take a sledgehammer to plans to tackle the global climate crisis. But if Trump thinks we’re going to stand by while he puts our planet on course to catastrophe, then now is the moment we’ll prove him wrong. As you read this, Greenpeace’s team around the world is already mobilising. Our office in the US has launched a huge response, urgently calling for members of Congress to oppose the president. And here in Europe, we’re ramping up pressure on EU leaders to condemn Trump’s move in the strongest possible terms. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll need to work together to prevent Trump’s actions from rippling out and causing more damage. This could be one of the biggest challenges our movement has ever faced.

Though the Paris agreement is by no means perfect, it’s still a monumental achievement — a deal that hundreds of thousands of us across the globe tirelessly campaigned for. When it was agreed in 2015, it was the first time in history the world’s governments came together to set out comprehensive plans to tackle the climate crisis. But Trump’s actions don’t just risk undoing hard work. While here in the UK climate change might seem like a distant threat, for many people around the world it is a life or death issue. In sub-Saharan Africa, climate change is triggering more extreme drought and pushing pastoralist farmers into an uncertain future. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels – brought on by melting ice and warming seas – are forcing people to abandon their homes. With his announcement yesterday at the White House, Trump turned his back on one of the greatest threats humanity faces — and he chose to put more lives at risk. While all countries must play their part in slashing greenhouse gases, the US has a crucial role to play in tackling the climate crisis. Each year, the US pumps out a huge share of global emissions [4]. And as one of the world’s richest and most powerful nations, other governments look to the US for leadership on solving global problems.

Already, Trump is looking isolated. In the hours after the president’s announcement, China vowed to push forward with the Paris agreement despite Trump’s decision to withdraw. France’s new President Emmanuel Macron even went on TV to issue a statement condemning Trump. Without the US onboard, we must act fast to pressure other countries ramp up their plans to reduce climate-warming emissions.

Today’s news isn’t what we hoped for. And right now, many of us will be feeling uncertain about the future of our planet. But today let’s remember there’s reason to have hope too. While Trump is turning his back on the world, there are millions of us across the globe who are determined to work together to create a greener, more peaceful world — and leave a planet that’s fit for generations to come. Greenpeace is a huge, worldwide movement of people who care deeply about the future of the world we live in. We’re a movement of people whose resolve only becomes stronger when faced with huge challenges. And most of all, we’re a movement that’s never giving up.

With all my thanks, Richard

Greenpeace UK

 

 

Defenders of Wildlife (USA)

 

Dear Mark,

The news out of Washington yesterday stopped us in our tracks. President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement is simply unfathomable.

Not only has President Trump turned his back on wildlife, he has abandoned any pretense of moral leadership in the world.

This decision is a slap in the face – in the face of our children, our grandchildren and the wildlife we all love.

Climate change is real, and it is the greatest challenge facing our planet. Wildlife and their habitat, as well as human communities and economies worldwide, are at risk due to rising seas, severe weather and a rapidly changing environment.

When I think of climate change, the first image to jump to mind is that of a lone, starving polar bear paddling desperately in open water in search of food. But the bears and their Arctic home are far from the only victims of this terrifying global threat.

  • Severe drought impacts plants and fresh water sources that desert animals like the critically endangered Sonoran pronghorn need to survive.

  • Shorter, warmer winters increase the presence of pests like mosquitoes and ticks that spread disease to our children when they play outdoors.

  • And the problems aren’t only on land. The carbon dioxide that humans emit dissolves naturally in the ocean, where it creates an acid so strong that it will dissolve the shells of some sea creatures. Acidification threatens any creature with a shell, including tiny plankton – the base of marine food chains – and will harm diverse marine life ranging from clams and mussels to coral reefs.

The results of doing nothing in the face of such dramatic changes are mind-boggling. Climate change is a crisis of massive proportions, and Defenders is doing our part to help wildlife survive these shifts by protecting the habitats that species need today and will need in the future, and ensuring those habitats are healthy and resilient enough to better withstand higher temperatures, severe weather and drought.

But we need global action to limit climate warming. That is what the Paris Climate Agreement represents. I am infuriated that this administration feels comfortable tossing aside an accord that so many worked so long and so hard to create. Vague promises to renegotiate the agreement give us no assurance that the United States will make the commitments needed to stop climate change.

President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement is short-sighted and narrow-minded. How can America be great when our leaders ignore and deny the siege we are under by a rapidly changing climate?

We owe a debt to our children and grandchildren to protect our world and secure a prosperous future. The Paris Agreement was an enormous step towards this goal.

We will not give up on our children or on our wildlife. The future is too important to do anything else.

Sincerely,

Jamie Rappaport Clark President, Defenders of Wildlife

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