Apparently we don’t have to fear climate change anymore.
That is if we go by a move the Trump administration made this week when it dropped climate change from a list of global threats.
Instead, President Trump’s National Security Strategy (NSS) will now focus more on global economic competitiveness and border security.
But not only is Trump’s NSS at odds with former President Obama’s–it also conflicts with views Trump’s own defense secretary, James Mattis, previously held.
The website The Federalist first reported Trump’s intent to expunge climate change from the NSS, quoting a draft document suggesting the administration would oppose plans to reduce the burning of oil, gas, and coal.
The website quoted the document:
“Given future global energy demand, much of the developing world will require fossil fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of poverty.”
A senior White House official stated Sunday:
“The economic piece … gets much more attention. The insistence that economic security is national security.”
However, after his confirmation hearings in January, James Mattis said in unpublished congressional testimony:
“Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today.”
He added the US military had to consider how the thawing Arctic and drought would pose present and future challenges in global conflicts.
Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are reported to have argued about Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate agreement last spring.
Trump was apparently so excited about the NSS policy change, he decided to reveal it publicly in a speech instead of behind closed doors, which is typical.
A senior administration official said:
“As far as we have been able to determine, no president has ever rolled this out with a speech before. The president was briefed on the document all the way along but when it was near completion and when it was shown to him what it looked like, he was very excited and he personally said he wanted to introduce it to the American people and to the world.”
Last month, the White House released the fourth National Climate Assessment, which confirms what scientists have been warning us about for decades: human activity is the primary cause of global warming, and dire consequences like sea level rise of eight feet by century’s end and more catastrophic weather are guaranteed if we fail to act accordingly.
Despite President Donald Trump’s opinion that climate change is a “Chinese hoax,” and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt’s insidious reversals of the previous administration’s progressive climate policies, the White House did not attempt to circumvent the report’s legally mandated release.
The assessment states:
“It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.”
In addition to averring “no convincing alternative explanation,” the document also serves as a tacit sign of how reliable multiple government agencies are at fulfilling their responsibilities despite the current administration’s indefatigable opposition to their endeavors.
Climate change denial, though, appears to trump logic.
Image credit: thehillnews.net
