President Donald Trump has made his decision to pull the United States out of the 2015 global agreement to fight climate change. To discuss the issue, Press TV has interviewed Jody Grage, vice chair of the Green Party of Washington state from Seattle, and Michael Lane, president of the American Institute for Foreign Policy from Washington.
Grage said President Trump is ignoring potential widespread reaction to his decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords for controlling emission of fossil fuels.
“Trump is massively underestimating the reaction to this (withdrawal from the climate change agreement) on the domestic front and really not taking into account the wellspring of political interest," the activist said on Thursday night.
“We have the enormous women’s march; there are more demonstrations and forums,” against Trump’s policies, she noted.
She also said the American president is giving importance to his short-term interest, which is being reelected in next presidential race, adding Trump is trying to meet the demands of parts of the American people who want to get rid of the climate accord.
“Simply taking the short-term interest and not just a short-term interest for everyone but the short-term interest about the people who you think are your supporters who will get you elected in three and half years is not a viable way to look at situations particularly something as important as overwhelming and as global as climate change,” she said.
Grage went on to say that Trump’s decision on the climate change is not going to guarantee the growth of the US economy because “right now there are more jobs in renewable energy in the United States than there are in the coal industry.”
“The majority of people are not benefiting from the economy and they are not going to benefit from cuts in health care, social service programs and the reaction to climate change,” which will have repercussions for the United States, she warned.
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| Protesters hold up signs during a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, DC on June 1, 2017, objecting to US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate accord. (Photo by AFP) |
She further pointed to the role of the United States in polluting climate by using fossil fuels, saying that “having the US agree to do a greater share reflects the input that we have had toward creating this problem.”
Another panelist, Lane, said that the Trump administration is going to quit the Paris accord on climate change, because “it puts a larger burden on the United States than on most of the other countries around the world.”
The United States pays a billion dollars a year into the climate funds at the UN and America needs to have a 26 percent drop in emissions, which is extraordinary to achieve, he said.
According to the analyst, President Trump is trying to strengthen his position in the domestic politics through pulling his country out of the Paris accord, because there are people who want him to do such a move.
However, Lane said, there will be some repercussions for the United States at the international level because most of the world states are on the accord and call on the Americans to abide by their commitments under the agreement.
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