An activist prepares a balloon painted to look like planet Earth and decorated with orange hair and eyebrows in the likeness of U.S. President Donald Trump during a climate protest prior to a meeting of European Union leaders at the Chancellery on June 29, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
'The Ignorance Is Astounding': Citing Cold Weather, Trump Says US 'Could Use a Little Bit of Global Warming'
"Weather is not the same as climate. The president should be able to understand that. It isn't hard."
"This is what happens when you try to run the country without a science adviser."
So wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus after President Donald Trump, citing the bitter cold currently gripping the eastern U.S., suggested in a Thursday night tweet, "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against."
In addition to demonstrating that he is unaware of the distinction between weather and climate, Trump also appeared to be referencing his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord--a move environmentalists slammed as "stupid and reckless."
Such recklessness has characterized much of Trump's approach to the environment--both globally and in the U.S.--throughout his first year in office.
As the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continue to be filled with climate deniers and Big Oil favorites, the agency's chief, Scott Pruitt, is moving at breakneck speed to dismantle even the most basic protections against environmental degradation--opening the door to both short-term and long-term catastrophes in a bid to reward the fossil fuel industry.
Furthermore, the GOP's $1.5 trillion tax bill Trump signed into law last Friday opens Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, a decision characterized by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune as "a gift to corporate polluters and a means to pay off these tax cuts for the rich."
Trump's tweet Thursday night sparked a flurry of reaction from climate experts and analysts, but it wasn't the first time Trump has used cold weather to suggest that the citizens of the world should welcome the climate crisis.
Holthaus concluded that "as twisted and wrong" as these tweets are, they are "exactly what resonates with his base. Poking fun at existential global problems in the sickest, most selfish way possible."
Others echoed Holthaus on Thursday, calling Trump's scientific ignorance a serious danger to future generations.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
"This is what happens when you try to run the country without a science adviser."
So wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus after President Donald Trump, citing the bitter cold currently gripping the eastern U.S., suggested in a Thursday night tweet, "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against."
In addition to demonstrating that he is unaware of the distinction between weather and climate, Trump also appeared to be referencing his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord--a move environmentalists slammed as "stupid and reckless."
Such recklessness has characterized much of Trump's approach to the environment--both globally and in the U.S.--throughout his first year in office.
As the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continue to be filled with climate deniers and Big Oil favorites, the agency's chief, Scott Pruitt, is moving at breakneck speed to dismantle even the most basic protections against environmental degradation--opening the door to both short-term and long-term catastrophes in a bid to reward the fossil fuel industry.
Furthermore, the GOP's $1.5 trillion tax bill Trump signed into law last Friday opens Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, a decision characterized by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune as "a gift to corporate polluters and a means to pay off these tax cuts for the rich."
Trump's tweet Thursday night sparked a flurry of reaction from climate experts and analysts, but it wasn't the first time Trump has used cold weather to suggest that the citizens of the world should welcome the climate crisis.
Holthaus concluded that "as twisted and wrong" as these tweets are, they are "exactly what resonates with his base. Poking fun at existential global problems in the sickest, most selfish way possible."
Others echoed Holthaus on Thursday, calling Trump's scientific ignorance a serious danger to future generations.
"This is what happens when you try to run the country without a science adviser."
So wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus after President Donald Trump, citing the bitter cold currently gripping the eastern U.S., suggested in a Thursday night tweet, "Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old global warming that our country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against."
In addition to demonstrating that he is unaware of the distinction between weather and climate, Trump also appeared to be referencing his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord--a move environmentalists slammed as "stupid and reckless."
Such recklessness has characterized much of Trump's approach to the environment--both globally and in the U.S.--throughout his first year in office.
As the ranks of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continue to be filled with climate deniers and Big Oil favorites, the agency's chief, Scott Pruitt, is moving at breakneck speed to dismantle even the most basic protections against environmental degradation--opening the door to both short-term and long-term catastrophes in a bid to reward the fossil fuel industry.
Furthermore, the GOP's $1.5 trillion tax bill Trump signed into law last Friday opens Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, a decision characterized by Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune as "a gift to corporate polluters and a means to pay off these tax cuts for the rich."
Trump's tweet Thursday night sparked a flurry of reaction from climate experts and analysts, but it wasn't the first time Trump has used cold weather to suggest that the citizens of the world should welcome the climate crisis.
Holthaus concluded that "as twisted and wrong" as these tweets are, they are "exactly what resonates with his base. Poking fun at existential global problems in the sickest, most selfish way possible."
Others echoed Holthaus on Thursday, calling Trump's scientific ignorance a serious danger to future generations.