Are we more threatened by climate change under Trump?

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Ramina Nejad, Author

Climate change is a real issue that is often overlooked by older generations, and it certainly isn’t being prioritized or even acknowledged by President Trump’s administration. Trump’s infamous tweet claiming that climate change was invented by the Chinese seems to be reflected through his Cabinet picks, many of which seem to ignore the overwhelming amount of evidence proving that climate change is largely caused by human activities. Not to mention that his Cabinet picks are not in any way scientific experts in this field.

Ryan Zinke, who is the new interior secretary, has openly supported the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would lead to dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide emissions and could potentially contaminate the water supply. The new Secretary of Energy is Rick Perry, who once stated that the department he’s now heading should be eliminated. The most alarming, however, was Trump’s nomination of Scott Pruitt as the head of the EPA. Pruitt has been involved in many cases against the EPA and has close ties to the fossil fuel industry. So essentially, it will be extremely difficult to regulate the climate under Trump’s administration.

It’s apparent that the Trump administration is looking for short-term profit by creating temporary jobs in the oil and gas industries, but it is clearly not sustainable and the adverse effects might not show up in our lifetime. But this doesn’t mean we should leave future generations with the burden of fixing the mess that we caused. With all the scientific evidence behind the rising global climate, everyone should accept it as legitimate issue, no matter their political affiliations.