Global Warming impacts must be a priority for our next President. July was “absolutely the earth’s hottest month ever recorded”, as stated from Gavin Schmidt, who directs NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which is responsible for temperature measurements. The effects of Global Warming include accelerating sea level rise and increased coastal flooding (August, 2016, Louisiana Flood) and longer and more damaging wild fires (August, 2016, California out of control fires).
Global Warming also increases more frequent and intensive heat waves and produces a longer and more intensive allergy season, spread of insect born diseases, and more severe droughts in some areas. Further, our aging electrical infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to the growing consequences of Global Warming, plus the potential damage from rising sea levels. Destruction to food supplies may also occur due to Global Warming.
Donald Trump does not believe in Climate Change and asserts that the changes we see are just actually “weather”, unaffected by human actions. He puts Climate Change low on the list of problems that we need to address. In 2012, Trump said “Global Warming was a hoax created by China to make U.S. Manufacturing uncompetitive”; however, he supports regulating air pollution.
Earlier this year, Trump promised to scale back Obama’s Environmental Regulations and called for faster development of U.S. Energy Resources. He said he would cancel the “Paris Agreement” to address Climate Change that was adopted last year by more than 190 countries and stop funding any international efforts to address Global Warming.
The prospect of a Trump Presidency has already unsettled Foreign Leaders who have prioritized addressing Climate Change. French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, stated “if a climate change denier was to be elected, it would threaten dramatically global action against climate disruption”.
Clinton’s position is quite different than Trumps. Clinton believes Climate Change, which is damaging our infrastructure, is an urgent threat in defining challenge of our time. It threatens our economy, our National Security and our children’s health and future. She wants to make United States the world’s Clean Energy Super Power by creating millions of good paying jobs, taking bold steps to slash carbon pollution at home and around the world.
