Paris Climate Accord Withdrawal

On Thursday June 1 president trump withdrew the United States from the International Paris Climate Accord. Nicaragua, Syria and the USA stand alone among 200 nations as outside of the historic global agreement to combat global warming. Nicaragua didn’t agree to the accord because it didn’t go far enough in their view. The US, after the accord was written and agreed to, withdrew because trump believes it went too far. Syria? Who knows? They are tied up with a civil war and drawing attention to more inhumanity to mankind. They are busy and didn’t enter the climate discussions.

So now America stands alone in the battle to address global warming.

But more was at stake evidently. Checking the transcript of trump’s June 1^st announcement, just about everything he said was wrong or counter to fact. Everything. I am preparing an analysis to prove my point. When ready I will share it with you here.

Until then, here are some points to start with.

1. Economic progress report: job creation is built on Obama’s legacy, not Trump’s; too early for his legacy to be measured; stock market growth also built on Obama’s legacy, although recent week’s growth shows exuberance well beyond reason
2. European trip gathered military contracts that may stabilize jobs in military-industrial complex; however, they also undermine peace and stability in the Middle East; American armaments in the Middle East are the cause of the  destabilization in the first place
3. G-7 talks did not produce fair and reciprocal trade; he only demanded it
4. Level playing field globally for America already exists; it is called international free trade (mostly) and job dislocations are normal at first as industry adjusts to the new opportunities free trade creates; change almost always does this
5. NATO funding problem has been a problem for a long time; Obama’s handling is consistent with all previous administrations
6. Withdrawal from Paris Accord is not negated by restarting negotiations to replace the Accord; that is not up to the USA to do; 200 nations must agree; we stand alone; we could seek to rejoin the Accord, but then that would be up to the rest of the signers of the Accord to accept us
7. America is the largest polluter of the global community; that is because we are the largest manufacturer and miner of earth’s ores; China, India and Russia are also major contributors to pollution; but they are all in the Accord and will work to reduce their pollution (no guarantee they will accomplish such)
8. America’s efforts to reduce pollution is strong; results are strong as well; hopefully we will continue to do so; cost and price adjustments due to these efforts have already been ‘booked’ into the economy; the Accord will cause other nations to do likewise; such is the ‘look’ of the level playing field
9. The result of the Accord hopefully will be a reduction of global warming and possibly saving or prolonging the planet’s life for mankind; the pact attempts to get every nation on board to do similar work in saving the planet; America was not saving the planet on her own or at her own cost without sacrifice by others; that’s what the agreement is all about
10. Lost jobs due to the accord is fiction; jobs will be lost in dying industries as they would be in any cycling of major technology change; new jobs by the millions will be created to answer the opportunities created by the Accord
11. Failing to slow or stop global warming threatens our existence; what cost for that?
12. Loss of manufacturing jobs is well established already due to technology alone; that will continue unabated; new, smart manufacturing will also eliminate jobs; those people will find careers in new industries as they are created; they are already being created; solar, wind and geothermal energy industries alone will create many of those new jobs currently being lost to old technology as it disappears
13. Automobile jobs will continue to be lost to robotics, different transportation modes, and possibly the demise of personal transport of automobiles eventually
14. Calculations of trillions in lost GDP are phony; same for the 6.5 million jobs lost; all misleading and inappropriate fake news attempt
15. Passing America off as the victim of the Accord is a false front; we all win from the Accord if global warming and damage to our environment are tamed
16. The opportunity posed by ‘new energy’ development and production far outweighs the old economy being lost to change. The change is inevitable; best if we answer it with action to invent the new energy
17. Small business growth is a result of the larger economy stabilizing and growing because of the Obama legacy, not of two or three months of the new administration’s effort
18. America demeans itself. The world community is not demeaning America.
19. America is already great and attending to managing change as it always has. That change is uncomfortable but not to be feared.
20. Trump seems to think that fear motivates America to be great. That is a belief unproven at this time. 

Had enough? Our future lies in an age of inventiveness that began before 1776 and continues to this day. Our next big chapter is creating new energy sources that are renewable and non-polluting. We are well on the way there already. The demise of the Oil Standard is writ large. About time.

June 5, 2017