Dont just blame Trump for quitting the Paris deal blame the Republican Party

[babylonsister]

https://www.vox.com/2017/6/1/15726726/trump-paris-climate-agreement-republicans

Don’t just blame Trump for quitting the Paris deal — blame the Republican Party
Trump is solidly within the GOP’s consensus on climate change.
Updated by Andrew Prokop, Jun 1, 2017, 7:10pm EDT


President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement has been portrayed in some press coverage as a decision driven by either his personal idiosyncrasies or the policy agenda of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. And while there’s an element of truth to that, it misses the big picture.

The reality is that this isn’t just a story about Trump — it’s a story about the Republican Party and the conservative movement, which has adopted a rock-solid, widespread consensus in opposition to any serious action aimed at the US reducing carbon emissions. This has become a bedrock belief of the modern GOP.

While we can’t know if any other Republican president elected in 2016 would have for sure withdrawn from the Paris agreement, many institutional actors within the GOP and the conservative movement — from members of Congress (including the Senate majority leader) to think tanks to activist groups to media outlets to conservative donors (including many with fossil fuel wealth) — strongly support this move and have in fact been urging Trump to make it.

Furthermore, even leading Republicans who might have supported sticking to the Paris deal — it is, after all, non-binding — would have likely supported an agenda of weakening environmental regulations and taken little if any action aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

The party simply does not believe climate change is a serious problem. The talking points differ: Some deny humans are causing the planet to warm at all and say the very idea is a liberal hoax (their number includes President Trump). More nuanced pundits and politicians acknowledge that the science is real, but argue that even if it is accurate, the consequences might not be so bad, or that action would simply be too costly.

snip//

The reality is that one of the US’s two major political parties is institutionally committed at nearly every level to the same basic agenda of environmental deregulation and inaction on carbon emissions. Trump’s withdrawal in Paris isn’t an odd outlier, but instead rests on that foundation.

[sharedvalues]

1. GOPs position is purchased by energy companies

The GOP doesn't have a principled position on climate change. They deny climate change because addressing climate change hurts the bottom line of energy companies, so energy companies donate to GOP. Also energy companies spend marketing dollars on denying climate change.


The GOPs upside down views on climate change are a predictable consequence of letting huge money into our media and political process.

Citizens United has as big an influence on climate change denial as Trump.

[Mr. Ected]

2. Meanwhile, RUSSIA remains a part of the Agreement. WTF?

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/russia-paris-agreement-climate-change-donald-trump-us-decision-global-warming-moscow-putin-a7766481.html