Trump’s Rollback Of Climate Efforts

Yesterday was a frustrating day for those who care about tackling climate change. Donald Trump’s executive order to roll back most of the Obama Administration’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is probably a futile attempt to resuscitate the dying coal industry, while putting America’s climate leadership on ice for at least the next four years. In other words, it’s a pointless, counter-productive exercise.Climate Change-Montan_AP_660

Yet while the moves are disappointing, they’re not devastating. The executive order will set in motion a regulatory process that will take years to play out and that will likely face strong resistance from the courts. But they mean a giant delay in needed actions.

I commented on the moves yesterday in some media outlets in both Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. First, I appeared on KPCC radio’s AirTalk in Los Angeles, discussing the impact of the order.

In the afternoon, I spoke with ABC-7 News in the Bay Area. Video here:

So the action now will shift to the courts, and we’ll see what the administration does with the Paris agreement on climate change going forward.

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