Trump’s behavior at the G7 summit further legitimizes climate change denial
As UNT students, we pride ourselves on being one of the most environmentally green campuses in Texas and in the entire nation. Due to this, I believe it is essential for us to stay informed on the fight to combat climate change at the international level.
This leads us to the G7 summit, which occurred June 8-9.
The G7 conference is an assemblage of leaders from some of the most industrialized nations in the world, including the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Italy. The conference was held in Canada this year and the host of the event, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had many plans to discuss — including some on climate change. This is where President Trump’s troubling actions begin.
Instead of making time to be at the conference for its entire duration like the rest of the leaders had, Trump arrived late on June 8 and left before the rest of the leaders the next day, completely disregarding the schedules of the others. He even took to Twitter on the last day of the summit after trade negotiations and called Justin Trudeau’s actions “meek and mild,” a direct insult to one of our closest allies.
A U.S. president running to Twitter and embarrassing the country in such a childish way is painful to watch. Where is the professionalism and thoughtfulness leaders are supposed to have? Why is he insulting one of our closest allies, on Twitter of all places?
To top all of this off, Trump didn’t even attend the climate change portion of the talks, and instead sent an aide to take notes. This presents America on the world stage as backwards, ignorant and unwilling to answer to the consequences of our gigantic carbon footprint and its effects on the environment. Trump’s absence during this extremely important portion of the summit will legitimize climate change deniers’ claims of it being “hoax” and not something to worry about.
The “If the president doesn’t care about it, why should I?” argument now has more weight because of Trump’s actions. This allows the American people to keep turning our noses up at the problems the world faces and ignore them, despite all the warning signs flashing in our faces. This mindset of avoiding the problem also disconnects us from our allies, such as France and Canada, who have already acted against climate change and continue to do so in powerful and progressive ways.
America is on the wrong side of history, and we will be remembered as the superpower who chose to deny the environmental consequences of our actions. We will continue destroying the world instead of preserving it for future generations.
Now, this isn’t the end of the fight, but only one step back. We, as students, control the future of this country and should do everything in our power to make sure a competent leader is at the helm. The best way to do this is to vote in the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 6!
We must advocate for candidates that approach climate change as an issue to be addressed and not one to be ignored. Spreading information to friends and family who might not be up to date on climate change politics is also extremely important and can lead to a larger voter turnout — the more people who understand and want to address climate change, the better.
UNT students can also become involved in organizations such as the Society for Ecological Restoration and the We Mean Green Fund to become further educated. Hopefully, we will begin to create a better future for ourselves and the following generations, despite the urging in the opposite direction from our president.
Featured Illustration by Austin Banzon
Great article, well written.