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‘We’ must demand sustainability in Trump era
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THE forces fighting global warming and battling to strengthen environmental protection must brace for heavy collateral damage as a result of Donald Trump’s victory in the United States’ presidential election. Judging by Trump’s campaign rhetoric, and by statements from his Republican allies, environmental protection in the US will be gutted in a frenzy of deregulation and inducements for domestic oil, coal, and gas producers.
Environmentalists are assessing the potential damage and developing strategies to avoid an onslaught driven by the most extreme anti-sustainability forces that have ever controlled Capitol Hill. The list of possible victims is long and depressing. If worse comes to worst, America will become much less green, while dealing a crippling blow to international cooperation.
At the recent climate conference meeting (COP 22) in Marrakesh, attention focused on the various ways a Trump administration might kill the climate agreement reached at COP 21 in Paris last year. Death could come by assassination, with Trump tearing up the agreement. Or it could come by starvation, with the US refusing to do or pay its share. Or it could be tortured to death, with the US asking everyone else to do more.
Surely, there are more options, but we are not compelled to contemplate them. Very little is known about what the Trump administration will actually do. Some hope reason will prevail at least to some extent, particularly given that markets are now pushing the green transition. Others fear it will not.
But the simple fact is that we don’t know what Trump will do, because he doesn’t know, either. His administration’s environmental policy is not carved in stone; it’s written in water, which always seeks the fastest route to the lowest point. How deep the zealots and the coal lobby will be able to make that point depends partly on the barriers built by the rest of us.
Mobilizing forces
That means concentrating on mobilizing the forces that can strengthen the case for America to remain part of the global move toward environmental sustainability. This will not convince diehards in the new administration, but it may sustain more moderate forces.
So, who is this “we” that must now take action?
First, “we” are US state governments and legislatures, nongovernmental organizations, local communities and corporations. All need to galvanize Americans’ support for protecting local environments and contributing to global solutions.
Second, “we” are the international community: the almost 200 members of the United Nations that in 2015 adopted the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate agreement. It is critically important that all UN members, whether big or small, insist that these global agreements still direct the world’s actions, regardless of what Trump does.
It must be abundantly clear to the incoming administration that the combined economic and environmental interest in pursuing the sustainability agenda will continue to push countries and companies alike in that direction.
Bo Lidegaard, former editor-in-chief of the Danish daily Politiken, is the author, most recently, of “Countrymen.” Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016. www.project-syndicate.org
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