What is up with Donald Trump? First, he was an election denier, insisting that he won the 2020 presidential election. Then with his buddy RFK Jr, he became a vaccine denier. Now he is an avid climate change denier. He has said numerous times that climate change is a total scam pushed by experts with their own agenda. He has also called it a con job. But why has he focused this way on climate? There are a host of reasons.
First of all, Trump has received major financial support from the fossil fuel industry for his election campaign and continues to receive money from them for various projects. In addition, I would not be surprised if Trump, his family and friends had major investments in fossil fuel companies. Also, Trump hates science and scientific experts and claims he knows more than any of them. Remember the Covid-19 epidemic when he told people they could cure the virus by injecting antiseptic or taking hydroxychloriquin, an anti-malarial drug. Not only was he wrong in suggesting these treatments, but they were dangerous.
And Trump’s political support is very strong in states where the fossil fuel industry is important for employment- like West Virginia for coal, or Texas and Oklahoma for oil. And the U.S. is one of the largest producers of natural gas for domestic use and export. But the scientific evidence for global warming is overwhelming. Trump wants fossil fuels used for America’s energy needs, including coal, the dirtiest fuel and biggest polluter. He is also against the use of electric cars which don’t use fossil fuels and are cheaper to run.
Trump’s distrust of science has resulted in the cancellation of billions of dollars worth of scientific and medical projects, some from universities and some from government agencies. He is allowing China to eat our lunch with their scientific research and manufacturing of new products while we lag behind.
Trump doesn’t seem to believe the changes in atmospheric temperature that have been measured or doesn’t think they are significant. Maybe he is not aware of the melting of glaciers, the Arctic and Antarctic ice and the rise in the levels of the oceans. Maybe he is unaware of the ferocity of the storms over the last decade, the hurricanes, the flooding, the landslides, and the increase in forest fires. Maybe he thinks these are all normal events. Has he gone for a dip in the ocean off Florida when the water temperature was in the high 90s? All normal. Is he aware of the tens of thousands of people who have died from the heat in Europe the past few summers. And the temperature in the Southwest that surpassed 130 degrees for weeks at a time during the last few years.
Bill Gates just came out with a blog stating that he changed his mind and climate change is not going to result in humanity’s demise. But he is one man and there are still scientists who see global warming as possibly destroying our civilization. Even if it doesn’t destroy everything, global warming will certainly take a toll on humanity in the future, with famines, migration from distressed areas, increased deaths from the heat, and global chaos. Climate change is real, though its timeline and its degree of death and destruction is uncertain. America and Trump should join the rest of the world in lowering greenhouse gases by severely reducing the use of fossil fuels and using renewable sources of energy wherever possible.
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020