NRDC: The World Knows Climate Change Is Real
President Trump falsely calls climate change a “con job” while people around the world live through its reality.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In his speech to the United Nations today, President Trump offered a tirade aimed at climate change and renewable energy. While people around the world are experiencing the impact of hotter heat waves, stronger storms, and other extreme weather events, Trump tried to dismiss this crisis as a “con job.”
Trump’s comments come just days after the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded that it is now “beyond scientific dispute” that climate change is happening and that it poses a threat to human health and welfare.
The following is comment from Manish Bapna, president of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“Who’s conning who? Whether it’s floods in Texas or Pakistan, extreme heat in Phoenix or Delhi, or storm surges in Florida or the Philippines, millions of people around the world are experiencing the reality of more extreme weather caused by climate change.
“The science is clear and settled. Climate change is making heat waves and rainstorms more intense. It’s supercharging hurricanes and typhoons. No matter how you vote, where you live, or what you look like, it's impacting every corner of the globe.
“The world is acting. More than 190 other nations have pledged to do their part to address this crisis. And, thanks to low-cost, renewable energy, cutting emissions makes good economic sense too.
“Trump has it exactly backward. The economic case for clean energy is undeniable. Solar, wind, and storage are the cheapest and quickest ways to meet our growing energy demand. They lower household energy costs and create jobs.
“Fossil fuels, meanwhile, are more expensive and dirtier. They fill the air with pollution that makes people sick while fueling unnatural disasters around the world.
“Anyone looking outside their window knows climate change is here and happening. The real question is why any responsible leader would try so hard to convince us otherwise.”
Late yesterday, NRDC and other environmental groups submitted comments explaining why the Trump administration’s plan to conclude that climate change doesn’t pose a risk to human health and welfare is “contrary to law, science, and basic common sense.”
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).