One of the current agendas of the Trump administration in the United States is to divest from climate mitigation infrastructure and programs and instead invest in economic development. While the US economy has not entered a full-fledged recession, the administration’s agenda has led many consumers to doubt the economic forecast for this presidency. While consumer pessimism doesn’t directly influence consumer expenditure, inflation continues to skyrocket, driving up food and other goods prices.

The Trump administration vehemently denies or at least refuses to acknowledge the presence of climate change and that commercialism and consumerism in the U.S. directly affect it. While this is something many might consider a matter of opinion and political stance, adopting this ideology as a precedent for governmental decisions is notably dangerous. Sure to be a volatile topic amongst younger voters, the Trump administration shirks from addressing this topic in public with constituents, or rather, following the commander-in-chief’s tactics, his administrative officials disrupt the journalist environment and continue to deny and deflect, putting the “blame” for asking “extremist” questions on tree huggers and hippies. 

Recently, Trump decided to halt wind farms off the East Coast in New England, jeopardizing the development of the wind power industry, because the current President states that turbine noise causes cancer and that offshore wind power makes whales unable to follow migration patterns. This will only increase household energy costs. Additionally, Trump issued executive orders temporarily halting the shutdown of 2 Indiana coal plants. Despite his efforts, the coal industry has been struggling in reality.

Unfortunately, despite an administration’s denial of this important topic, reality continues to objectively worsen conditions for American citizens and people around the world (i.e., more damage from increased hurricanes, floods, fires, etc.), and it’s not going away anytime soon.

The current administration continues to pursue its “economic development” policy of investing in the fossil fuel industry, increasing military spending, and imposing tariffs on countries that were previously on friendlier terms with the United States government. While this might appease certain constituents, many people have become more pessimistic about inflation and the economic policies this administration is imposing. The current investment in these industries has led to the economy developing in a manner that is not climate-friendly and will not prevent the US from contributing to a 1.5° limit on temperature rise by 2030.

At this point, it is most intelligent for the United States to work on investing in climate mitigation and climate-friendly policies, as it could boost international trade, it could also develop a green industry as it has the technology to do so, and it is what the new generations are going to be working on to develop regardless of who is in the Oval Office.

This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard US Country Manager, Abby Carlson.