Republican Candidate “Trumps” Climate Change

By: Julia Flint

Many of you are more familiar with this terms runner for the republican party than you would like to be. Notorious for his rants and outbursts, but exactly how accurate are his claims? In an article from the League of Conservation Voters, they took direct quotes spoken from both Candidates on their opinions on scientific issues, such as climate change. Below is a quote spoken from Donald Trump on his personal views. Here is the article in its entirety including more views from Trump, and some from Clinton.

“I think there’s a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I’m not a great believer. There is certainly a change in weather that goes – if you look, they had global cooling in the 1920s and now they have global warming, although now they don’t know if they have global warming. They call it all sorts of different things; now they’re using “extreme weather” I guess more than any other phrase. I am not – I know it hurts me with this room, and I know it’s probably a killer with this room – but I am not a believer. Perhaps there’s a minor effect, but I’m not a big believer in man-made climate change.”

After reading this I was curious myself. Does he have a method behind his madness? Are we all just being a bunch of paranoid worry warts? Not convinced I decided to check into this statement and in a sense fact check the validity, if there be any, behind it. What I found was not surprising in the least. Paper after paper, research after research most, if not all, scientists agreed that there is a need to worry and that we are not in the clear when it comes to the fate of our environment and ecosystem. Below are some of the resources and articles that I found.

Stone Cold Evidence

In an article found on the NASA website, there is fact after fact listed leading to the acknowledgment of global warming and climate change. Emphasizing on the evidence that it is in fact due to human activity and the ever increasing number of the human population, it is very informative and convincing, not to mention an incredible source with lots of science and data behind it. You can read the rest of the article here.

The Environmental Protection Agency has produced many articles on this topic. This particular one acknowledges the natural ways that the climate could change, but has a bigger emphasis on the manmade climate changes that have and currently are changing our environment. Giving many examples, like the rising temperature, increase in sea level, and melting ice caps backed with a lot of data and research. This article, along with several others on this topic can be found here.

On a more media friendly not the Rolling Stone issued an article called “The Point of no Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here”. This humorous article is written not only to inform the general public about the serious threat and danger that it includes, but puts it into an easy to follow, even humorous format. Not only is it convincing, but also includes loads of data. You can find the entire article here.

Even the New York Times has gotten involved multiple times on this literal hot topic. In this particular article, it primarily focuses on whether or not future climate changes should matter to us today, in present time. Written by Andrew C. Revkin, it discusses and links to a podcast between him and two other scientists from different areas debating and discussing this question. Both entertaining and informative I think it is worth a read and a listen. You can find his article here.

This last piece of evidence really holds some merit. It has been published, and peer reviewed by the scientific community. Yup, this right here is the real freaking deal. Published as part of Cambridge University Press, a long list of more than qualified scientists are responsible for the publication of this article. Not only acknowledging that it is a problem, they insist that it will only get worse, and the real kicker most of it is manmade. Chalked full of facts and data this is a great example of the scientific communities opinion on the matter. You can find the article here.

I think it is clear from these articles that this is not an issue that we can just shake off and ignore. Although there is still some controversy following this topic, it is apparent that at least in the scientific community, it is a no brainer. It looks like Trump’s infamous ignorance does not disappoint in his statements pertaining to Global Warming and Climate Change. In my opinion as a society we should take a lot from these writings. We should make a greater effort to be greener and try to help conserve our resources and take care of our planet. It is, after all, the only one we’ve got!