Editorial Boards Across the Country Slam Trump's Decision to Withdraw from Paris Accord 

•  “With this move, the United States relinquishes leadership in the battle against global warming and its pernicious consequences: pollution — the air in some cities, such as Beijing and Mexico City, is often unbreathable — rising sea levels, which will inundate coastal areas and cause enormous losses and human displacement; and abrupt changes in the ecological balance. The effects are already visible in coastal regions, and especially in South Florida, where municipalities, namely Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, have signed an agreement to combat the phenomenon with ecological measures. But Trump refuses to see this reality.”

San Diego Union Tribune Editorial: Trump’s Paris climate accord withdrawal worst decision of his life

• “Let’s not mince words here: Withdrawal from this landmark accord will mark the single worst executive decision of Trump’s lifetime, not just his presidency. Trump’s administration is bemoaning the fact that India and China aren’t going as far or as fast as the US to curb emissions, all while questioning the science of climate change and foolishly promising to focus on coal jobs instead of renewable energy jobs that could actually position America first for decades of wealth, prosperity and global security. In so doing, the president is ignoring sage advice from business leaders like Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk, who lobbied with others for the U.S. to remain in the accord. America first? The natural gas, wind and solar industries in the U.S. already employ more than five times as many American workers as the coal industry, which has been in serious decline for decades. It’s bad enough that Trump’s decision may lead other countries to drop out of the accord, but it’s worse that it will jeopardize America’s standing in the world as well as its position in the global economy. Now it appears China, which has committed to lessening its reliance on coal, will be revered globally as a climate-action leader.”

New York Times Editorial: Our Disgraceful Exit From the Paris Accord

•  “Only future generations will be able to calculate the full consequences of President Trump’s incredibly shortsighted approach to climate change, since it is they who will suffer the rising seas and crippling droughts that scientists say are inevitable unless the world brings fossil fuel emissions to heel. But this much is clear now: Mr. Trump’s policies — the latest of which was his decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change — have dismayed America’s allies, defied the wishes of much of the American business community he pretends to help, threatened America’s competitiveness as well as job growth in crucial industries and squandered what was left of America’s claim to leadership on an issue of global importance.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Editorial: Paris accord retreat is ‘bad for business’

•  “Following through on the solid first step the Paris accord represents to safeguard the planet and future generations should have been more than enough reason to stay in. But in making his decision, Trump failed to see what even Exxon does: The switch to cleaner or renewable fuels is underway, and it represents a breathtaking economic opportunity. Carelessly throwing away American leadership in the global agreement gives adversaries an opening they will seize. Countries leading on this will effectively corner research and development dollars. Innovation will happen beyond our borders. Instead of pioneering the technology that will power the future, Americans will buy it from German, Chinese or French corporations. How is that putting America first?”

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial: By abandoning climate agreement, Trump abdicates U.S. moral leadership

• “Until Thursday afternoon, none of the bad decisions President Donald Trump has made since his inauguration actually posed an existential threat to the planet. But by announcing he would pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, Trump crossed that dire threshold. It was shocking that the president chose the sunny White House Rose Garden to celebrate news that will make him a pariah in history. Now begins a four-year process of withdrawing U.S. participation from an agreement among 195 nations to try to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

USA Today Editorial: Paris pullout endangers the planet

• “Decades from now — if sea levels continue rising, polar ice caps keep melting and weather patterns grow ever more extreme — people might well look back at the spring of 2017 as a key turning point in the failed effort to stave off catastrophic, human-induced climate change. President Trump’s decision Thursday to withdraw the United States, the world’s second largest emitter of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, from the Paris climate agreement deals a body blow to one of the best hopes for slowing a ruinous rise in global temperatures.”

Washington Post Editorial: Trump betrays the planet

• “On Thursday, President Donald Trump took a major step toward making this dystopia a reality. In announcing that he will pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, Trump dealt a blow to the effort to slow climate change — but not only that. By joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only nonparticipants in the most consequential diplomatic effort of this century, he also dealt a blow to the U.S. leadership that has helped promote peace and prosperity for the past seven decades under Republican and Democratic presidents alike. Under their leadership, the United States acted with selflessness and enlightened self-interest. The traits reflected in Trump’s decision are self-defeating selfishness, insecurity and myopia.”

Tampa Bay Times Editorial: Another Trump rant and foolish decision on climate change

• “President Donald Trump undermined the nation’s security and American leadership in the world with his announcement Thursday that the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. The move amounts to a staggering abdication of this nation’s responsibility for the warming climate, and it will encourage more countries and industries to ignore the impact of rising temperatures and seas on public health and safety. While Trump offered a vague commitment to re-enter talks to seek a more favorable deal, that is window-dressing a senseless decision, choosing to stand by his fanciful campaign promises to revive the coal industry rather than working with China and other polluters for the benefit of global health.”

Kansas City Star Editorial: Leading from the sidelines? Abandoning Paris climate deal a historic mistake

• “President Donald Trump’s decision to end U.S. compliance with the Paris climate change accord is a consequential mistake — a serious miscalculation that will harm our relations with other countries, endanger homes and businesses across the nation and make the world sicker. More evidence emerges every day that the Earth’s climate is changing: Hotter temperatures are melting the ice at both poles, injecting trillions of gallons of water into the oceans. Coastal areas are already challenged with higher water. But interior regions won’t be spared. Weather events are becoming more extreme. It rains longer and harder than before. Crops are threatened. Warmer weather may mean more violent crime in urban areas. Dangerous insects are moving north.”

News & Observer Editorial: Trump quits climate accord to bash Obama, but he hurts the US

• “But the election is over, with the U.S. pulling out of the accord, it will be a setback for dealing with climate change, which already is having effects on the world’s environment. In the long term, it will have serious implications for North Carolina as well, with predicted rises in sea levels. The truth is, Donald Trump probably knows or understands very little about climate change or the Paris accord. He’s just trying to keep a campaign promise to people who probably don’t know much about it, either. Trump really needs to put away the club he uses to bash all things associated with President Obama, and proceed with positive initiatives of his own, if he has any.”

Chicago Daily Herald Editorial: Trump exit from Paris Agreement shameful

• “Trump’s shameful retreat from the worldwide effort to contend with the results of a changing climate diminishes America’s stature in the world and weakens a fight in which every nation has a stake. But at least he at last has recognized the fight targets a real phenomenon. For the foreseeable future, sadly, it looks like we’ll have to work with that.”

Detroit Free Press Editorial: In exiting Paris accord, President Trump squanders time and degrees

• “President Donald Trump has betrayed the future of our children, our grandchildren and our planet.  His decision to exit the Paris climate accord, announced Thursday, is incomprehensible and inexcusable.  Climate change is real, and human activity contributes to it: Among climate scientists, there is consensus on this subject. Climate change is also a clear and present danger to our physical security, the global food supply, and the way we live. The Paris accord represented the world’s best hope of restraining global temperature increases.”

Albany Times-Union Editorial: Mr. Trump defies reality

• “Beyond the sheer ignorance of it all, this short-sighted move has grave consequences for America’s global leadership. It will hurt America’s image as a leader in the face of dire threats. More than any despot or disease, global warming threatens to destabilize societies and cause widespread suffering and conflict — a scenario envisioned by, among others, both scientists and military experts. Far from leading, America will be left behind by global leaders who are already affirming their commitment to the Paris pact.”

Santa Rosa Press-Democrat Editorial: The death of US leadership and exceptionalism

• “In announcing that he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord, he turned the nation’s clock back, striking a blow for head-in-the-sand ignorance and severing ties to the one agreement that gave hope to millions that nations would finally be able to work together to combat climate change. In so doing, Trump made clear what German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted at on Sunday — that America is no longer the nation the world could count on to lead the way in confronting such complex problems as the build-up of carbon emissions. If other countries are going to make progress, they are going to have to do it without the United States.”

Los Angeles Times Editorial: The clearest evidence yet that Trump is turning the U.S. into a force for bad in the world

• “With his announcement Thursday that he will pull the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, our petulant president has put the world on a path — potentially, but increasingly inevitably — to irreversible catastrophe. The decision fulfills Donald J. Trump’s misguided campaign promise to withdraw from the pact under which nearly 200 nations (led, at the time, by the U.S.) pledged to try to reduce global warming by curtailing greenhouse gas emissions. Trump’s decision, while expected, is nonetheless stunning in its short-sightedness, its rejection of clear science, and its utter disregard for the nation’s long-standing role as a world leader.”

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial: Trump’s move to dump curbs on climate change shifts the effort to states such as California

• “Trump’s move, delivered in blunt and unapologetic terms, made it clear he has no interest in the Paris accords reached in 2015 to limit rising global temperatures. His disastrous action will undercut U.S. leadership around the world, chill a growing green economy and worsen chances to head off climatic disruption.”