Two Green Leaves

Here is a post that I wrote for Our Climate. Hope you enjoy, learn about the bills, and take action.

The world today is filled with significant events, and the news seems to scramble to cover everything. I listen to the news every day, and climate change is sometimes slipped into the daily news as a side topic. That is because climate change is always happening, and it would not be anything new if the news reported that the climate was changing. So with all the news today, climate change seems insignificant. But it is the opposite of that. Climate change will have devastating effects to our planet if the only response to it is inaction. Even today, our planet has seen increases in ocean acidification, collapses of ecosystems, extinction or endangerment of keystone species, droughts, hurricanes, malaria and zicha, sea level rise, wildfires, crop failure, climate refugees, economy collapses, smog, fresh water scarcity, and a seemingly endless amount more. Inaction will only make it worse.

Welcome to the Trump Era. Over the past two weeks, I’ve still found it difficult to believe that America has elected a narcissist to the most powerful and respected position in the country. The executive actions Trump is currently taking are powerful enough to affect our personal lives and puncture the shield surrounding our natural and basic human rights. As the second largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, and the wealthiest country in the world, America struggles to preserve the environment we live in. With a president who invests in and supports the very companies that inflict damage upon our environment, only time will tell what nature has in store.

In this article, I will be explaining what Donald Trump has done or intends to do regarding the environment and climate change.

Many people including myself are concerned about the content of trans fat in the foods we eat on a day to day basis. Not because it harms the environment, but rather because it has many negative side effects such as type 2 diabetes, lowering good cholesterol and raising bad cholesterol, and increasing the risk of a stroke or heart disease. It is such a nasty fat that there is even bans and restrictions from the government concerning it. Our solution was a healthier option called palm oil. Palm oil is grown on the African Palm Oil Tree or the Elaeis guineensis and is mostly grown in Africa, Asia, North America, and South America. It is used in soaps, cosmetics, detergents, margarine and many other places that you might not expect. In fact, it is so widely used that it’s estimated about a half of all supermarket products use a form of it with about 50 million tonnes of it used annually. But although it may be convenient and sometimes delicious, it can be detrimental to our forests, climates, and communities.

After the disappointing results of the election, we are all wondering the same thing: What will a Trump Presidency mean for the future of our climate? Trump has made it extremely clear that he does not support the Paris agreement, a carbon tax, or believes in climate change. As the cabinet picks keep coming, we see the news go crazy over each one. One of his more recent and controversial picks is Rex Tillerson for secretary of state which will be his 3rd billionaire pick (he has already appointed 7 millionaires). Rex Tillerson has been the CEO of Exxonmobil since 1975 and has had a love hate relationship with climate change.

     Wind turbines seem to be the most controversial renewable way of generating electricity, however, it also seems to have a lot more controversy in the US. A spokesman for the Trump Organisation, while talking about a proposal for wind turbines near Trump's Scotland golf course said: "The [wind farm] will completely destroy the bucolic Aberdeen Bay and cast a terrible shadow upon the future of tourism for the area." Trump's spokesman is slightly right, wind turbines are large and they have to be put in the right spot. 70 wind turbines were proposed East of Niagara falls amid farms and towns however they were one of the biggest wind turbines in the world, and near small farms, they just wouldn't fit in.