
In the wake of the White House’s recently released report on the potential impact of climate change on the American economy, a desperate attempt by those who are economical with the truth to weaponize the findings appears to be washed up on the rocks. Despite the rampant criticism of the Trump administration’s refusal to drink the Kool-Aid, the fact remains that the good old U.S of A is leading the pack on carbon footprint reduction
Unfortunately, it is not likely that the left and its allies in the establishment media will tell the truth when it comes to advances the United States has made in addressing the issue.
Bad Timing?
Left-leaning journalists and politicians slammed the president for releasing the report on the day after Thanksgiving, claiming that fewer Americans would be likely to read the news on the document. They argued that people would be too busy beating each other bloody on Black Friday to pay attention to a climate change report. Philip Duffy, an environmental scientist, told The Hill that the administration “timed the release to get the minimum visibility.” He also stated that it wanted to “let (the report) fly under the radar as much as possible, take the heat, and move on.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), posted a tweet that the president was trying to “bury a new report about the devastating consequences of climate change.” Sanders claimed this is “because Trump’s actions are actively making it worse.”
David Easterling, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information Technical Support Unit, explained the reason for the timing of the release, indicating that the date was moved up because it “would be a topic of discussion” at two important international conferences to be held in the near future. “We wanted to get this out sufficiently in advance of those meetings to ensure that folks have a chance to review it,” he said.
A Dire Warning
The White House report contained dire warnings about the efforts to combat climate change. According to the study, the current measures being taken are not sufficient to mitigate the impact on the world’s climate. It is expected that changes to the environment will negatively affect the way people live their everyday lives.
The report claimed that climate change would have a harmful effect on health, the global economy, and the world’s energy supply. “Global average temperature has increased by about 1.8 (degrees) from 1901 to 2016, and observational evidence does not support any credible natural explanations for this amount of warming,” stated the report. “Instead, the evidence consistently points to human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse or heat-trapping gases, as the dominant cause.”
Tremendous Progress
Climate change – among a host of other issues – is a problem the left uses to attack the Trump administration. These zealous individuals have even gone so far as to argue that the president was complicit in some of the hurricanes that hit various parts of the United States because of his environmental policies.
But how is the U.S. faring in its bid to reduce carbon emissions? According to a recent report released by British Petroleum (BP), America’s efforts to reduce her carbon footprint aren’t too shabby. In fact, the nation reduced its carbon footprint by 42 million tons in 2017 alone. The BP report also revealed that 2017 was the ninth time in this century that the United States achieved the most significant reduction in global carbon emissions.
A number of factors figure into the drastic reduction in U.S. carbon emissions. Cleaner energy and switching from coal to natural gas were important contributors. Fracking and using wind and solar energy also played a critical role.
Progressives want the American public to believe that Trump’s decision to roll back much of the Obama administration’s environmental policies and to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord indicate that this administration is not serious about addressing the climate change issue. The facts do not support their claims.
It is clear that more work needs to be done when it comes to reducing the country’s carbon footprint. But if BP’s report is any indication, the United States is doing its part to mitigate the impact of global climate change.