Op-Ed: Hurricane Ian and the coming climate crash
It’s all over the internet: “We’re coming to a world without coal, oil and gas.”
So what’s next?
The last time an American presidency was defined by an environmental crisis was nearly two decades ago when President Jimmy Carter addressed the United Nations, promising to “go forward with bold measures to restore the environment” and “reduce the environmental impact of our economy.” He was met with immediate opposition, and Congress rejected the first bill he was sent.
It was a similar story with President Barack Obama, who had proposed to address the carbon pollution that was taking a toll on the environment. He faced the same headwinds from Republican opposition to the Keystone XL and other bills that promised to clean the air.
With his presidency now defined by environmental concerns, Donald Trump’s first major announcement was another pledge to eliminate a major pollutant. He promised to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses, or CO2—a “climate change pollutant” the UN has described as the most serious global health threat since the tobacco epidemic of the 1970s.
Trump’s announcement followed a spate of other statements on climate and energy that seemed to promise that the president would be no different from his predecessors in his pledge to go forward with massive “clean coal,” nuclear energy, and coal-fired power plants.
Then again, he’s had plenty of opportunities to make major commitments on climate change since he took office.
In his speech at the recent G7 summit in France, Trump called for an “all out and immediate” effort to reduce emissions and said that the U.S. might pull out of “non-participating” international climate agreements—even as it continues to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.
And in March, Trump suggested that the U.S. was leaving the Paris climate accord—again, even as it continues to subsidize the fossil fuel industry.
The Trump administration has not been shy about its hostility to the UN climate treaty, and has shown no signs of changing its position on carbon dioxide. The U.S. has one of the highest emissions of the greenhouse gas in the world.
According to the International Energy Agency, the country was responsible for 11.6 million metric tons of