Trump's climate change shift is really about killing the
international order, by Amanda Erickson, 5/23/17, Washington Post
President Donald Trump has
done what he promised: kneecapping America's efforts to fight climate change.
In a sweeping executive order Tuesday, the president rolled back rules limiting
carbon emissions and regulating fossil fuel producers.
Trump explained this dramatic shift
in economic terms, saying he wants to put coal miners back to work and make
manufacturing cheaper.
Trump's policy reflects a deeper
truth. Climate change denial is not incidental to a nationalist, populist
agenda. It's central to it. And that's not a coincidence.
As candidate and president, Trump
has explicitly suggested that fighting climate change is at odds with national
priorities. It's an attitude shared by many of his most fervent supporters, and
it has a long history.
Nationalism is about protecting
one's borders. Opposing Agenda 21 is just a way of saying other countries don't
have a say.
Though most people don't know what
Agenda 21 is, this argument that fighting climate change is antithetical to
American interests has seeped into mainstream Republican thinking. In 2012,
Newt Gingrich promised to "explicitly repudiate" the plan if elected
president.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-climate-change-20170329-story.html
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