Stacking Cabinet with Deniers, Trump
Says 'Nobody Really Knows' on Climate
When
asked by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace where he stands on the
issue, Trump responded:
"I'm still open-minded. Nobody really knows. Look, I'm somebody that gets
it, and nobody really knows. It's not something that's so hard and fast."
He
also claimed to be "studying" the Paris Agreement and whether to
withdraw, saying, "I don't want that agreement to put us at a competitive
disadvantage with other countries."
The comments came days after reports that Trump's Energy Department transition team has been asking for the names of civil servants that worked on environmental policies under President Barack Obama, sparking fears of a coming "climate purge" by the incoming administration.
Indeed,
the Trump administration's energy agenda, recently revealed by PRWatch,
"collectively amounts to a fossil fuel industry wish list...which would be
devastating for attempts to slow climate change."
And
the Guardian writes:
Trump has assembled a transition team in
which at least nine senior members deny basic scientific understanding that the
planet is warming due to the burning of carbon and other human activity.
These
include the transition heads of all the key agencies responsible for either
monitoring or dealing with climate change. None of these transition heads have
any background in climate science.
Meanwhile,
his likely selection of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for
secretary of state is stirring the ire of
environmentalists who describe the
Big Oil magnate as "no friend of the planet."
In a statement,
Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter declared Tillerson's
likely nomination to be "a frightful prospect for our planet."
"If
confirmed," Hauter said, "Tillerson would have an unprecedented
platform to promote drilling and fracking for oil and gas around the world at
the expense of clean energy and our climate."
Given
past statements by Tillerson and Exxon's top leadership, Hauter added: "We
must presume that aggressive opposition to renewables—and environmental
protection at large—would become official policy in a Trump-Tillerson State
Department."
Drawing
a comparison between Trump's cabinet appointments thus far and the counsel of
his daughter, Ivanka—who "appears to be establishing a role as the one
person who might prevent the Trump administration from undoing all of the progress made by
the Obama administration in cutting US carbon pollution"—Guardian blogger Dana
Nuccitelli writes:
On the issue of climate change, Trump
resembles a character with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other.
Except in this case, the devil also has a horde of demons beside him.
Trump
has filled every position of power with fossil fuel industry allies who have
years of experience in undermining government efforts to slow human-caused
global warming.
Trump certainly listens to and trusts
his daughter Ivanka, who in Gore and DiCaprio, has wisely invited the counsel
of high-profile individuals that are well-informed about the subject of climate
change.
However,
it’s difficult to imagine that Ivanka’s influence on the president can outweigh
the direct actions of the climate foes who he has appointed to powerful
government positions, especially since she’s new to government and policy
debates.
Obviously
her counsel to date hasn't stopped Trump from continuing to make these
nightmarish appointments.
"The winner of this battle will
determine whether the Trump name forever becomes synonymous with climate
heroism or villainy," Nuccitelli concludes. "So far, the villains are
winning bigly."
Trump and his "demons" appear
to be at least partially out of step with members of their own party.
While
a recent Pew poll showed fewer
than a quarter of Republican respondents believe climate change to be the
result of human activity, the same survey found widespread, bipartisan report
for expansion of wind and solar industries.
It
also found that most Republicans (69 percent among moderate or liberal
Republicans and 48 percent of conservative Republicans) say climate scientists
should have a major role in policy decisions related to the
climate.