Peter Dykstra: Trump’s global soulmates

Peter Dykstra: Trump’s global soulmates

As the climate alarm grows louder, President Trump's climate denial regime gains allies.

Only a few years ago, climate denial was on the run in world capitals.


In the U.S., the Obama Administration may have underachieved, but was still a welcome change from Vice President Dick Cheney's fossil fuel lovefest.

In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's purge of government science was ousted in favor of a pale green Justin Trudeau.

Former boxer Tony Abbott was counted out in Australia. Even the Saudi's made noise about a future without oil.

But joining Donald Trump in a stunning reversal of fortune, Australia has swung back to climate denial, and once-vocal developing nation advocates for climate action like Brazil and the Philippines have backslid as well.

All of this is happening at a time when high-level unanimity on climate is essential.

Conspiracy plots and poison

Roiled by an economic crisis and high-level corruption allegations, Brazil's electorate made an abrupt turn last year, opting for right wing populist Jair Bolsonaro. His disdain for the Paris Climate Accord was front-and-center in his winning campaign.

Bolsonaro's supporting cast has tossed rhetorical bombs at climate science.

Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo parroted an early theme of Trump tweets, suggesting that climate scientists, environmental activists and fellow travelers were part of a plot by China to corner the world's energy markets.

Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina is nicknamed "The Muse of Poison" for her advocacy of intensive pesticide use. Cristina is also pushing to speed the conversion of Amazon rainforest to farmland, and has made not-too-subtle threats about undermining Brazil's already beleaguered Environment Ministry.

Climate loses the "climate change election"

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right). (Credit: G20Australia/flickr)

Australia's new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, rode a wave of support for the coal industry to victory as head of Australia's Liberal Party (in Australia, the "Liberal" Party is what Americans would call Conservative or Republican. I've never known how that happened.)

It was billed as "The Climate Change Election." Climate lost.

Coal is still a big deal in Australia, with huge export markets throughout Asia. Big enough, apparently, that Aussie voters saw fit to swap the imperiled Great Barrier Reef for 30 pieces of coal.

The end of May

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte accepts that climate change is real, citing on-the-ground impacts in his country.

But he threatened to reverse Filipino involvement in the Paris Climate Accord, calling the pact "unfair" to developing nations.

Friday's resignation of British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves another question mark. May will serve until her Conservative Party chooses a successor to lead a minority government already hogtied by the Brexit decision.

Foreign Minister Boris Johnson is widely considered the leading contender. The mercurial Johnson has uttered bipolar views on climate change, at times urging the U.S. to reconsider its climate denial, while at other times quoting leading U.K. climate denier Piers Corbyn.

Back in Trump-land ... 

Here in the Land of Trump, the President's embrace of "beautiful, clean coal" hasn't done much to revive the reeling industry's fortunes. On May 10, Cloud Peak Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, leaving its miners in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana uncertain about their future.

This week, 75 business leaders, including some from Fortune Fifty giants like PepsiCo and Microsoft, lobbied the U.S. Senate to urge a carbon pricing scheme. Not a single Republican Senator listened.

So, in a supreme and potentially tragic irony, Trump has gone from virtually standing alone as a climate-denying head of state to leading an apparent climate collusion.

Somewhere in the mix is Russian President Putin, whose authoritarian fortunes are pinned, among other things, to natural gas exports and access to the resources of a melting Arctic.

World leaders need to not only speak, but act, as one on climate. Such an imperative is growing more difficult, not easier, in the face of a clear and present danger.

climate protest sign
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

‘Climate negotiations are inherently abusive’: campaigner Brianna Craft on the struggle smaller countries face

In her memoir, the Cop delegate draws parallels with her violent childhood home and the imbalance of power in global summits.

Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

Brazilian Amazon at risk of being taken over by mafia, ex-police chief warns

Alexandre Saraiva gives alert on organised crime in region ahead of anniversary of killings of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira.

transmission lines sunrise
Photo by Marcus on Unsplash

FERC aims to fix the grid's renewable energy backlog. Can it?

Developers and climate advocates say a proposal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may not spur enough change.
West Virginia governor's coal empire sued by the federal government
Photo by Taton Moïse on Unsplash

West Virginia governor's coal empire sued by the federal government

The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department, seeks millions in unpaid environmental fines as Gov. Jim Justice begins his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
guam
Photo by Lucie Rangel on Unsplash

Guam's water, power outage still remains after Typhoon Mawar

About half of the island remains without water, and about 65% is without power. It may be weeks until the utilities are fully restored, local authorities said.
phoenix from top of hill
Photo by Walter Martin on Unsplash

Arizona limits construction around Phoenix as its water supply dwindles

In what could be a glimpse of the future as climate change batters the West, officials ruled there’s not enough groundwater for projects already approved.
Supreme Court wetlands
At the end of May, the Supreme Court took a major bite out of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to protect wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Credit: Brian Bienkowski

Opinion: Supreme Court undoing 50 years’ worth of environmental progress

For the past few months, Americans have faced multiple political distractions: Ukraine, inflation, AI, whether or not we intentionally nuke our own economy.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
healthcare sustainability

Reimagining healthcare to reduce pollution, tackle climate change and center justice

“We need to understand who is harmed by an economy that’s based on fossil fuels and toxic chemicals.”

plastic pollution

Recycling plastics “extremely problematic” due to toxic chemical additives: Report

Negotiations are underway for a global plastics treaty and parties differ on the role of recycling.

UN plastics treaty

Opinion: UN plastics treaty should prioritize health and climate change

Delegates should push for a treaty that takes a full-lifecycle approach to plastic pollution.

halliburton fracking

How the “Halliburton Loophole” lets fracking companies pollute water with no oversight

Fracking companies used 282 million pounds of hazardous chemicals that should have been regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act from 2014 to 2021.

President Joe Biden climate change

Op-ed: Biden’s Arctic drilling go-ahead illustrates the limits of democratic problem solving

President Biden continues to deploy conventional tactics against the highly unconventional threat of climate change.

oil and gas wells pollution

What happens if the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the US goes bankrupt?

Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets, according to a new report, sparking concerns about whether taxpayers will wind up paying to plug its 70,000 wells.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.