Cómo la acción climática puede hacer grande a Estados Unidos

Dec 15, 2016 Vinod Thomas

SINGAPUR – El cambio climático es el desafío por excelencia que enfrenta la humanidad. Sin embargo, el próximo presidente de Estados Unidos -el segundo emisor más grande del mundo de gases de tipo invernadero y un actor crítico en la política climática- no cree que el cambio climático exista, o al menos que los seres humanos tengan algo que ver con su desarrollo. Si Donald Trump en verdad quiere hacer que "Estados Unidos vuelva a ser grande", como manifestaba su eslogan de campaña, necesitará cambiar su actitud y abrazar la agenda climática.

Hasta el momento, la situación no parece alentadora. A pesar de una montaña de datos científicos, Trump sostiene que no hay evidencia de que los seres humanos contribuyan al calentamiento global. Una vez inclusive llegó a calificar al cambio climático de "engaño", inventado por los chinos para hacer que la industria estadounidense fuera menos competitiva (aunque luego se retractó de esa acusación). Sin embargo, no ha repensado su escepticismo más amplio sobre el cambio climático impulsado por los seres humanos.

En esta línea de pensamiento, Trump ha anunciado su intención de revertir los límites de emisiones de carbono para las centrales eléctricas impulsadas a carbón, aumentar la producción de combustibles fósiles y reducir el apoyo a la energía eólica y solar. También ha prometido retirar a Estados Unidos del acuerdo sobre cambio climático global concluido el pasado mes de diciembre en París. Una marcha atrás de estas características sería catastrófica para los esfuerzos globales destinados a enfrentar el cambio climático.

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Florian Strahberger Dec 20, 2016

"Of course, in the longer term..."
... "In the long run we are all dead". Keynes did address the economists - but for a politician in a so called democracy of our days this is definitely even more the maxim.
Of course, in all those fields where climate action will lead to a reduction of fuels and thus a reduction of costs based on building-up the needed knowledge-base to achieve these goals, some competitive advantage will be the return.
But, today the prices for oil are low - and we have a fragile economy within a liquidity-trap...
... from his point of view, Trump is pretty right not to buy the German stuff but to rely on the technology his own people are capable to produce, like SUVs with a max reach of 20 miles per gallon ...
With having good luck, the oil-prices will stay far below 100 USD for the next 4 years ...
Nothing can make America great again. This Great America was only a short period of time, with a brain-drain and a situation in which the competitors were bombed down to ruins. And today, the nation is not of so much relevance any more - if the situation of a region is great or not so great is a per capita thing. Even Porters cluster-theory is more and more outdated because with CSCW you can build up these clusters virtually.
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Aale Hanse Dec 15, 2016

The current trend with solutions to climate change is fraught with fallacies that do not address the root problem. Climate change has been hijacked by the money men just like globalization had and we finally see the outcomes to that. By proposing a solution that enhances profits and ignoring the pollution and environmental degradation is not a long term solution that is sustainable or even effective in any way. We are polluting our environment under the disguise of economic growth and refuse to stop it let alone reverse it. Our penchant for the trajectory we want our lives to continue with is not sustainable and with eight billion plus people all wanting the same then sumpin has to give.
A better solution would be to forget about the solutions to climate change that is being pushed now and clean up the environmental degradation that is out there now, right in front of us that cannot be refuted. The flow on effect of having an expense instead of a profit will bring about the changes that are just a lip service now.
All through the centuries the human race has not been a team player with the environment and to expect it to change now is impossible: so I guess Darwin’s theory will prevail....
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