Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Trump Ends UN Agenda 21 in US

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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