Presidents Seeing Green

Just in time for World Environment Day, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement on Thursday, joining Syria and Nicaragua and flustering many state and local governments, businesses and citizens. Many of those organizations vowed to uphold the agreement in defiance of Trump's decision.


San Francisco lights its city hall in green - joining New York, Boston, Atlanta, Paris, Montreal, Mexico City and others - in protest of President Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.  Twitter


There has been some support of the withdrawal. The Washington Examiner called it a "terrible deal for the U.S.":
"Exiting the agreement means the U.S. can lead with strength in promoting energy and environmental policies, protecting U.S. jobs and easing the costly regulatory burden across the country. Now the Trump administration can push ahead with a plan that conserves the environment while protecting economic competitiveness and promoting affordability and reliability."
But most of the reaction has been negative. The New York Times groused:
"Mr. Trump's policies . . . have dismayed America's allies, defied the wishes of much of the American business community he pretends to help, threatened America's competitiveness as well as job growth in crucial industries and squandered what was left of America's claim to leadership on an issue of global importance."
The Chicago Tribune lamented:
"Trump's stubborn approach represents a squandered opportunity to assert American influence, ceding the conversation to Europe and China. This puts the U.S. on the sidelines for one of the most important issues of our time."
And the Baltimore Sun fumed:
"What truly makes this a miscalculation is that the vast majority of Americans recognize the danger posed by climate change, and they want something to be done about it."
For those of you dismayed by this seeming step backward, you may wish to take heart in the environmental progress that our past presidents have made:
  • Abraham Lincoln signed conservation legislation that led to the national park service, established the National Academy of Sciences and protected the Yosemite Valley in California.

Yosemite in 1878.  Carleton Watkins

  • Theodore Roosevelt established the National Wildlife Refuge System and protected about 230 million acres of land.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Soil Conservation Service and Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act.

The Civilian Conservation Corps plants trees in the 1930s.  National Park Service

  • Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act, created the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and signed the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
  • Jimmy Carter pushed Congress to approve his seven point plan, protected 104 million acres of Alaskan wilderness, created the Superfund program, signed the Endangered American Wilderness Act and installed solar panels on the White House (which were uninstalled by Ronald Reagan).

Jimmy Carter admires newly-installed solar panels on the roof of the White House in 1979.

  • George H.W. Bush enacted a "no net loss" policy on wetlands, started the first market-based cap-and-trade program for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide (which cause acid rain), and signed the Clean Air Act Amendments and the Oil Pollution Act.
And finally,
  • Barack Obama raised fuel efficiency standards, made a deal with China to cut emissions, approved subsidies for businesses purchasing renewables, protected 550 million acres of land and water, reinstalled Jimmy Carter's solar panels on the White House . . . and entered the United States into the Paris Climate Agreement.

Barack Obama inspects solar panels at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 2009.  AP


To keep up to date on President Trump's actions regarding the environment, read the New York Times's tally and National Geographic's running list.

If you are in the mood to take some environmental action yourself, take a look at my friend Dave's solar panel gifting program.
I am currently working on a book about Ah Toy, the first Chinese brothel madam in gold rush San Francisco.

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