For Donald Trump : Don't Condemn the World to Forced Climate Change

On the 28th March 2017, Donald Trump has announced that he is to sign an executive order, overturning the previous Obama administration's plans to tackle global warming. His main reason is that combating climate change harms the economy with it's miasma of rules.

Trump is seeking to repeal the Clean Power Plan which limited the use of coal fired power stations because of the amount of carbon dioxide they released into the atmosphere. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated that this would reduce carbon dioxide pollution from the energy sector by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030. Environmental campaigners and democrats were highly supportive of the bill.

However, critics accused the Obama administration of a "war on coal" and warned that electricity prices will rise by so much that people will not even be able to surf the internet. Thomas J Donohue, the current president of the US Chamber of Commerce, said the EPA plan was a "power grab" that will "drive up electricity costs for businesses, consumers and families, impose tens of billions in annual compliance costs, and reduce our nation’s global competitiveness" 

Trumps head of the EPA Scott Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general who questioned accepted climate science said "The president is keeping his promise to the American people,". Pruitt also denounced the Paris climate accord as a “bad deal” and said Obama-era standards on auto emissions were "counter-helpful to the environment".

Ah Donald Trump and the Republican Party,  here we go again..........

A description of Global Warming

According to NASA (Because i'm not that good at explaining Science!) :

"Global warming is the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released as people burn fossil fuels."

But I've heard that Republicans deny humans have anything to do with it. Well, you idiotic, money obsessed nutjobs, here is some more science for you:

The Earth has a "Natural Greenhouse Effect". This is the process where about 70% of the sunlight that reaches the planet, is absorbed by the atmosphere, and this solar energy heats the planet. As the rocks, air, and the seas warm, they radiate heat energy from the surface to the atmosphere . Much of it is absorbed by water vapour and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that exist in the atmosphere. 

Next, the molecules of these greenhouse gases become a radiator for the heat and it spreads out across the planet. The energy that radiates back towards the Earth heats the lower atmosphere and the surface, enhancing the heating they get from direct sunlight.

The natural greenhouse effect is beneficial for life on Earth. If there was no greenhouse effect, the Earth’s average surface temperature would be -18°C. Compare that with the actual 15°C and you get the idea where we'd be without it. It would probably be like sitting next to Theresa May for a few hours.

However, what Scientists are concerned about is the enhancing of this effect. Over the past 250 years, humans have been artificially raising the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mostly by burning fossil fuels, but also from cutting down forests. There is now 38% more carbon dioxide and 148% more methane in the atmosphere. More greenhouse gases mean more heat is absorbed and radiated. This is causing the planet to warm at a much faster rate and could lead to various consequences, some already being seen.

Credit NASA with most of that explanation. I did my best to write it in my own words!

Occurrences attributed to Global Warming

• Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice. (Less Ice = More Water = Rising Sea Levels)

• Many species have been impacted by rising temperatures. Animals with backbones, like fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles, are disappearing 114 times faster than they should be. (Who cares about Polar Bears right? Well you might care about species such as Bees who pollinate and make sure a lot of our plant life can survive. There is a theory that they will not be able to adapt because during their breeding cycle, a single cold night can destroy a colony's efforts and they would have to rebuild.)

• Rainfall and Snowfall have increased across the planet on average. (Flooding. Lots of flooding, as seen just recently in Madagascar, Peru and other regions of Africa and South America)

• Some invasive species are thriving. For example, spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.(Invasive species are defined as a non-native plant, animal or other organisms that dominate the encountered ecosystem and disrupts its function and structure. Invasive species displace or damage native fauna and flora, often posing serious threats to local biodiversity and causing adverse environmental, economic or public health effects.)

Potential Future Occurrences from Global Warming

• Sea levels are expected to rise between 18 and 59 centimetres by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 10 to 20 centimetres. (Why is this a problem? If the ice melts, sea levels will rise, and this could flood several countries. Entire island nations and the world's largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Miami as well as Mumbai, Sydney, and Rio de Janeiro are at severe risk.)

• Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger. (Almost certain no one wants to be in a live action remake of "Twister".)

• Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years. (Think about the problems in Somalia and Sudan right now with famine and drought and how much more often it could happen.)

• Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.(With a growing world population, imagine the consequences of running out of water, not just for humans, but for plant life and other animals.)

• The Earths oceans are becoming more acidic, posing a serious threat to underwater life, including molluscs, crabs, and corals. (This can have a huge impact on shell-fisheries. Indeed, as of 2015, acidification is believed to have cost the Pacific Northwest oyster industry nearly $110 million. Coastal communities in 15 states that depend on the $1 billion nationwide annual harvest of oysters, clams, and other shelled molluscs face similar long-term economic risks. Continuing the road to Global Warming will ruin areas of the economy that Trump does not even consider.)

• Rising temperatures also worsen air pollution by increasing ground level ozone (This is created when pollution from cars, factories, and other sources react to sunlight and heat. It is the main component of smog. Unclean air is linked to higher hospital admission rates and higher death rates for asthmatics.)

• Some diseases will spread, such as mosquito-borne malaria. Ecosystems will change: Some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct. (Oh yay, I love mosquitoes, the world needs more of them.) 

But...but...THE ECONOMY!!

Are you really so stupid to believe that an economy should come before being able to actually survive on this planet? To survive as other animals successfully do, humans need food, water and shelter, that's it. Global warming threatens these immeasurably and i'm not sure that throwing a $100 bill at the ocean that now engulfs your home is going to send it running with it's tail between it's legs.

The importance of money to society is wildly overstated. If you can afford the basics, you are already able to survive.

Perhaps you should read this Native American proverb:

“Only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.”

Moreover, jobs in the renewable energy sector in the USA are growing 12 times faster than the USA's economy. Why I hear you ask? Because it's the future Donald. Some of us don't fancy living in Scuba Gear and facing an everlasting struggle with malaria. I know you'll be dead and buried by then, or hanging on to the cracks in the Earth as Satan struggles to pull you down, but don't you actually realise that scientists are experts in a field not many understand fully. They have warned for decades what is going to happen, with evidence, yet this is dismissed because of money and pig headed ignorance.

Furthermore, fossil fuels are running out. There might be jobs in the short term in destroying the planet, but they aren't sustainable in job security or for the world. The future of the economy is in renewable energy. China realise this and are going to invest £292 billion by 2020 in cleaner energy. The investment will create more than 13 million jobs in the sector, which should show how much of a future renewable energy has. They are also the world's biggest generator of solar power. China have the capacity to realise that their previous methods of producing energy with fossil fuels is now unsustainable, Their smog problem and scientists have forced them to take action and they are poised to become the worlds leaders in the battle against climate change.

Conclusion

Mr Trump, the world is moving on from your generation of burn as much of everything as you want and there will be no consequences. It is my generation who will have to deal with the decisions you are intending to make, in pursuit of growing an economy, which in a physical sense, doesn't even exist. I implore you to think very very carefully about what you plan to do because not only are environmental groups and scientists against you, soon the whole world will be. Additionally, to some people the tradition of the USA being the greatest nation on Earth will be gone. You will be despised by those who climate change will affect the most and lose ground as the most influential nation to China.

Please do not make the generation that have had to put up with rising living costs, unaffordable housing, spiralling tuition fees and a shocking job market, have something even more to worry about.

References

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page2.php

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad

http://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/3/27/14922516/trump-executive-order-climate

http://climate.org/archive/topics/ecosystems/invasivespecies.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jan/05/china-invest-renewable-fuel-2020-energy

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Bees/bees3.php

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/26/trump-executive-order-clean-power-plan-coal-plants

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/28/clean-power-plan-court-obama-climate-change