American Bridge President Jessica Mackler released the following statement in response to President Trump pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement, joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only United Nations members to not participate:
“Donald Trump is bankrupting American leadership worldwide like it’s one of his sketchy casinos or fraudulent university. Five times as many Americans are employed in clean and renewable energy jobs than in the fossil fuel industry. Hundreds of American businesses supported staying in the Paris agreement. As our drinking water becomes dirtier, Asthma symptoms worsen, and the economy shrinks, Trump’s destructive decisions, including pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, will be to blame.”
More information about how Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement will lead to job-killing tariffs on American exports can be found here.
Support For The Agreement Ranged From A Majority Of American Voters To Fortune 500 Companies To Pope Francis
The Yale Program On Climate Change Communication Found 69% Of Registered Voters Supported The U.S. Participating In The Paris Climate Agreement. According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, “In a nationally representative survey conducted after the election, we found that seven in ten registered voters (69%) say the U.S. should participate in the COP21 agreement, compared with only 13% who say the U.S. should not. Majorities of Democrats (86%) and Independents (61%), and half of Republicans (51%) say the U.S. should participate (including 73% of moderate/liberal Republicans). Only conservative Republicans are split, with marginally more saying the U.S. should participate (40%) than saying we should not participate (34%).” [Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 5/8/17]
Apple, Google, Walmart, And Others Wrote To President Trump In Support Of The U.S. Remaining In The Paris Agreement. In a letter to President Trump, Apple, BHP Billiton, BP, DuPont, General Mills, Google, Intel, Microsoft, National Grid, Novartis Corporation, PG&E, Rio Tinto, Schneider Electric, Shell, Uniliver, and Walmart wrote, “We write to express our support for continued participation by the United States in the Paris climate change agreement. Climate change presents U.S. companies with both business risks and business opportunities. U.S. business interests are best served by a stable and practical framework facilitating an effective and balanced global response. We believe the Paris Agreement provides such a framework.” [Letter from Apple, BHP Billiton, BP, DuPont, General Mills, Google, Intel, Microsoft, National Grid, Novartis Corporation, PG&E, Rio Tinto, Schneider Electric, Shell, Uniliver, and Walmart to President Donald J. Trump, 4/26/17]
Trump’s Own Secretary Of State Warned That Pulling Out Of The Agreement Would Keep The U.S. Out Of Major World Decisions
Tillerson On The Paris Agreement: “I Think We’re Better Served By Being At That Table Than Leaving That Table.” According to CNN, “Tillerson, a former oil executive, has long acknowledged the threat posed by climate change, but has been more reluctant to attribute the phenomenon to human activity. In his confirmation hearing earlier this year, he told senators he supports US participation in the Paris Agreement, saying, ‘I think we’re better served by being at that table than leaving that table.’” [CNN, 5/12/17]
Secretary Of State Rex Tillerson Signed The Fairbanks Declaration, Signed By Members Of The Arctic Council Recognizing The Importance Of The Paris Climate Agreement. According to CNN, “Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed an international declaration highlighting the importance of the Paris Agreement in tackling climate change Thursday, even as the Trump administration considers withdrawing from the agreement. The Fairbanks Declaration was adopted at the meeting by the members of the Arctic Council, which includes countries with territory in the Arctic such as the United States. It states that ‘the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the global average, resulting in widespread social, environmental, and economic impacts in the Arctic and worldwide,’ and points to ‘the pressing and increasing need for mitigation and adaptation actions and to strengthen resilience.’” [CNN, 5/12/17]
The Agreement Included Most World Nations And All Of America’s Most Important Allies, Syria And Nicaragua Are The Only U.N. Climate Change Convention Members Not Party To The Agreement
195 Nations Were Part Of The Agreement. According to The New York Times, “With the sudden bang of a gavel Saturday night, representatives of 195 nations reached a landmark accord that will, for the first time, commit nearly every country to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to help stave off the most drastic effects of climate change. The deal, which was met with an eruption of cheers and ovations from thousands of delegates gathered from around the world, represents a historic breakthrough on an issue that has foiled decades of international efforts to address climate change.” [New York Times, 12/12/15]
Leaders Of All Other Members Of The G7 – Germany, France, The UK, Italy, Canada, And Japan – Expressed Their Support For The Agreement. According to The Guardian, “Donald Trump’s intentions regarding US participation in the Paris climate deal remained unknown on Sunday, as one report cited ‘confidants’ saying the president had made up his mind to pull out while a senior cabinet figure said he was ‘quite certain the president is wide open on this issue’. Trump said in a tweet on Saturday: ‘I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!’ The message was published as Trump left Sicily after the G7 summit. Leaders of the other G7 nations – Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan – issued a communique confirming their support for the climate deal, which was reached with contributions from Barack Obama in 2015 and signed the following year.” [Guardian, 5/28/17]
All 197 Countries In The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change, Except Syria And Nicaragua, Signed Onto The Agreement. According to ABC News, “The December 2015 deal has as of this month been signed by all 197 countries in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change except two: Syria and Nicaragua. Of the 195 that have signed, 147 have ratified the accord.” [ABC News, 5/28/17]
Climate Scientists: U.S. Withdrawal From The Paris Agreement Would Mean Historic Global Temperatures Rise
Researchers At The Climate Interactive Predicted The Earth Would Warm By 3.6 Degrees Celsius By 2100 If Trump Left The Paris Agreement. According to Bloomberg, “While a 2-degree shift wouldn’t be noticeable during the course of a day, it would represent a historic change for the Earth as a whole that’s faster than any change in the climate since the last ice age ended some 10,000 years ago. The scenarios that scientists are looking at depend on measurements of air and water temperatures taken at hundreds of sites around the world, as well as complex models about how trends will evolve in the coming decades. Trump’s move would clearly make the outlook worse, according to Climate Interactive, a team of modelers backed by institutions such as MIT Sloan School of Management and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. They estimate that the world would warm by 3.6 degrees Celsius (6.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100 when compared with pre-industrial levels if Trump quits Paris, more than the 3.3-degree baseline scenario.” [Bloomberg, 5/30/17]
Climate Change Has Been Linked To Gastroinestinal, Nervous System, Respiratory, And Other Illnesses
Climate Change Increases The Risk Of Gastrointestinal Illness As Well AsNervous And Respiratory Illness. According to the EPA, “People can become ill if exposed to contaminated drinking or recreational water. Climate change increases the risk of illness through increasing temperature, more frequent heavy rains and runoff, and the effects of storms. Health impacts may include gastrointestinal illness like diarrhea, effects on the body’s nervous and respiratory systems, or liver and kidney damage.” [EPA, accessed 2/21/17]
Think Progress: “Research Has Repeatedly Shown That Improved Air Quality Is Associated With Health Benefits Such As Fewer Premature Deaths, Heart Attacks, And Hospitalizations From Respiratory And Cardiovascular Illnesses.” According to Think Progress, “Fossil fuel-fired power plants make up about 31 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions — largely carbon dioxide emissions. […] Research has repeatedly shown that improved air quality is associated with health benefits such as fewer premature deaths, heart attacks, and hospitalizations from respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.” [Think Progress, 6/9/16]
Boston Resident Chiamaka Obiolo Testified To The Effect Of Climate Change And Pollution On Minority Neighborhoods As Half Of Her Classmates In Elementary School Had Asthma. According to the Boston Globe, “[Chiamaka] Obiolo said the threat against science is a social justice issue. She said half of her classmates in elementary school had asthma, and she sees how pollution and climate change have affected minority neighborhoods in Boston.” [Boston Globe, 2/19/17]
University Of Michigan Professor Of Pediatrics And Director Of The Cystic Fibrosis Center Dr. Samya Nasr: Climate Change Has Had A Direct Impact On Child Health, Exacerbating Child Lung Disease. According to an opinion by University of Michigan Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Center Dr. Samya Nasr in the Detroit Free Press, “Despite what the court and governor might think, the climate will keep changing and those changes will have direct impact on human health. As a physician who treats children with lung diseases, I already see the impact of global climate change on my patients.” [Dr. Samya Nasr – Detroit Free Press, 2/26/16]
CO2 Levels Have Never Been Higher Than They Are Today
Carbon Dioxide Content Is The Highest It’s Ever Been. The following chart from NASA shows the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere from over 400,000 years ago to the present day:
Published: Jun 1, 2017