The world is on fire. Right now the most obvious example of this is in the Western United States where 3.1 million acres have already burned down due to forest fires over the past two weeks. Despite the wealth of scientific evidence that names climate change as the main culprit behind this, President Donald Trump says the wildfires and mass devastation that is happening are just because of poor “forest management.” This comes as no surprise given Trump’s track record of climate change denial. After three years in office, the Trump administration has reversed 70 environmental rules and regulations, with an additional 30 rollbacks in progress. What is most troubling is many of these have been done recently under the guise of helping bolster the economy due to the pandemic. Many of these policies governed rules surrounding clean air, water, pollution, toxic chemicals and decarbonization. The result of these environmental rollbacks are projected to increase greenhouse gas emissions and lead to extra deaths from poor air quality. This is a reality that we are seeing play out in real time right now.
If this is what Trump can do, and undo, in just four years, the prospect of another four years of Trump is grim for climate change and the environment. The most significant action the Trump administration has taken against the environment is withdrawing from Paris. This effectively sent a message to the world that the US government does not care about the health and well-being of the earth and all those who live here. Ironically, the US will exit the Paris accord one day after the 2020 presidential election. If Trump is elected again, there is a definite possibility that the US will move forward with its promise to leave the accord, the only chance we have to avert disastrous climate change. This is why the US presidential election is of paramount importance and should be top of mind to everyone. What happens on November 3rd essentially affects us all.
What the re-election of Trump will likely lead to is irreversible environmental degradation and atmospheric changes that will affect the lives of many people today, and even more people in the future. This is not an exaggeration. Trump has shown his support for fossil fuel industries and the desire to subsidize big emitters. He has slowed the transition to renewables and will continue to do so. Climate change is a time sensitive battle and if the world wants to meet its 1.5ºC target, we will have to cut emissions by 7% a year this decade. There is no way this will happen with Trump in office, and the world cannot afford the delay or there is no chance we will meet any of our Paris Accord goals.
The United States is only one of the 197 countries that originally signed on to the Paris Agreement. However, as a global hegemon, what the US government does sends a strong message that reverberates at the core of many nations. The US withdrawing from the Paris Agreement does not only mean the US will not act to achieve the goals outlined in the Accord, it also reduces the political will of other countries to take action. The implications of this withdrawal, and another four years of a Trump presidency, are quite possibly insurmountable. If the US and other countries do not lower emissions and make policy decisions to decarbonize the economy, the resulting changes to the Earth’s climate will be on a temporal and geographic scale such that the socioeconomic and ecological impacts will affect us now, and generations for many thousands of years.
If we care about the world then it is in everyone’s best interest that Trump does not win the 2020 Presidential Election. Some of the damage he has already caused in office cannot be undone, and another four years of blatant disregard for the environment and refusal to believe in science is unthinkable. The global escalation of temperatures will cause irreversible harm. California would be, as scientists warn, an appetizer for what will come.