The Paris Climate Agreement

The Paris Agreement 

On the first of June in 2017, President Donald Trump made what I personally believe to be his biggest and worst mistake. President Trump announced that the United States would be pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. In the agreement each country would plan and report their efforts to combat climate change. President Trump pulled out of the agreement, claiming it harmed the American economy and put us at a disadvantage. As of November of 2017, America is the only country to not sign the agreement. 

First of all, signing the agreement would have been a good decision from a purely political stand point. It shows that America is willing to do its part along with the rest of the world to combat climate change. Refusing to sign it because it might harm the economy just makes America look selfish and greedy. Refusing to sign also makes Trump, and therefore America, look foolish. Scientist almost unanimously agree that climate change is happening and that humans are a direct cause of it. Refusing to sign the agreement along with Trumps past remarks denying the existence of climate change makes us look stupid. It's made even worse with Trumps whole campaign being about fighting "fake news". I do not think I need to explain why looking stupid is bad politically. 

Many of the people who support president Trump's decision will say that they agree with him, that the Paris agreement puts all of the burden on America and puts us at a disadvantage. This claim is quite simply moronic. First off, the agreement isn't binding. Everything the United States and every other country says it will do is completely voluntary. Sure, not fulfilling a promise might make us look bad to the rest of the world but as I have already mentioned, so does pulling out of the agreement. It is also absurd to think that the burden is not placed on any other country. In Early 2017 China had agreed to halt the construction of 103 coal fired power plants and their energy agency announced plans to pour over $360 billion into clean and renewable energy by the end of the decade to show their dedication to combating climate change. If the agreement really did hurt the economy like the president claims then simply make a new promise. One that does not cause as much damage to the economy but also shows our willingness to fight climate change. 

Climate change is becoming more and more of a threat to everyone. This can be seen by the numerous hurricanes that have devastated parts of America. Puerto Rico is still crippled because of its hurricane. It is also shown in the massive wildfires in California. While these disasters may not have been directly cause by climate change, scientists agree that climate change will make these events more and more common. The fact that we refuse to sign an agreement even while its effects are ravaging our country is both foolish and mind boggling to me. By refusing to sign the agreement, Donald Trump has shown that he has no intention to fight climate change.