As I noted in my previous presentation, numerous US government leaders engaged in a deliberate campaign over decades to suppress the scientific evidence involving climate change, and to cast doubt on or lie about the evidence that the public was able to learn. However, there are additional charges that a prosecutor could bring. . .
The third charge involves efforts by various US officials to claim that climate change was actually beneficial, and thus absolutely no efforts to reduce CO2 emissions should be made.
Exhibit 4A, 2012-2019: Both before and after becoming President, Donald Trump repeatedly called for more global warming. For example, after a cold fall day President Trump stated "We could use a big fat dose of global warming!"
Exhibit 4B, February 2019: The head of the Presidential Commission on Climate Security was selected by President Trump after declaring that CO2 levels should actually be higher, not lower, because he claimed that crop yields would be increased - dismissing studies showing the exact opposite.
Fourth, the US made deliberate, and highly successful, attempts to actually increase fossil fuel use - and thus climate change.
Exhibit 5A, June 2019: In 2015, the US spent more on fossil fuel subsidies than on defense, whereas renewable energy received much less and was therefore rendered less economically competitive.
Exhibit 5B, 2018: a US government push to greatly increase fossil fuel production helped the country to become the world's leading oil producer in 2018.
Exhibit 5C, June 2019: President Trump canceled requirements that future average car mileage increase from 37 to 51 miles per gallon, and also forbade California and many other states from setting their own stricter mileage standards to prevent tens of thousands of deaths from air pollution. The resulting much higher CO2 emissions deliberately canceled out other nations' efforts and spending to reduce their own emissions.
Exhibit 5D, July 2019: the US Ambassador to Kenya protested when that country abandoned plans for a coal-fired power plant. It was noted at the time that such pressure could carry considerable weight in Kenya and other countries since the US was one of the largest sources of development assistance.
Fifth, the US government worked to decrease use of renewable energy, energy efficiency efforts, and practices that offset CO2 emissions.
Exhibit 6A, April 2019: President Trump made up the claim that windmills caused cancer. He also stated that wind power was impractical even though Iowa was getting nearly 40% of its energy from wind turbines, and urged people to oppose the building of new wind farms because he claimed that their property values would decrease by 75%.
Exhibit 6B, June 2019: President Trump met with the leaders of the G-20 (the countries with the 19 other largest economies), and lobbied them not to increase their use of either wind or solar power because he claimed that they were not practical.
Exhibit 6C, September 2003: The White House Council on Economic Quality objected, on political grounds, to the planned reprinting of a brochure that had instructed 325,000 farmers in ways that their crops could trap CO2 from the atmosphere for many years; the popular brochure was scrapped.
Exhibit 6D, April 2001: at a meeting of President Bush's Cabinet, a goal of increasing energy efficiency in the US was rejected.
Sixth, the US worked repeatedly to block other nations' efforts to combat climate change.
Exhibit 7A, 1998: the Kyoto Protocol represented the world's first global treaty to reduce the CO2 emissions responsible for climate change. The US proposed weaker targets, and the resulting compromise ended up weakening the targets agreed to by other nations in order to get the necessary US approval (since the US was responsible for 36% of world emissions of CO2 at the time). Following that, the US Congress did not vote on ratifying the treaty, which kept it from going into effect until three years later. President Bush then announced that the US would withdraw from the treaty, and the head of the EPA stated that the US had "no interest" in its efforts to reduce emissions.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
