States, cities must commit to climate-change fight

Hyperbole has long been a hallmark personality trait of President Donald J. Trump. But last week, the chief executive’s use of highly exaggerated – and oftentimes downright false – claims reached new heights in his misguided decision to pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate accord.

For those of us who recognize the necessity for global cooperation and action to lessen the short- and long-term scientifically proven dangers of climate change, Trump’s words in renouncing the 195-nation pact ring hollow.

“The Paris agreement handicaps the United States in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our nation’s expense. They don’t put America first. I do, and always will.”

Putting America first, however, should never translate into isolating America from needed global initiatives to protect public health. As Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich, an opponent of Trump’s move, aptly put it: “Climate change is a global issue and will need a global agreement to address. By withdrawing from the agreement, the administration has passed up an opportunity both to expand U.S. leadership in clean- energy technology and to create well-paid American jobs with a future.”

Nor can the president’s embrace of Youngstown in his address last week blindside any of us to the recklessness of the decision. “It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; and Pittsburgh, Pa., ... before Paris,” he said.

His cunning implication that rejection of the pact somehow will fuel sustained job growth in the Mahoning Valley or anywhere else for that matter has been summarily debunked as myth. In fact, 630 businesses and investors signed an open letter to Trump earlier this year calling on the president to continue participation in the Paris accord and to aggressively promote low carbon-emission policies.

In Youngstown, Democrat Mayor John A. McNally was rightfully dumbfounded by the president’s shaky logic. “Nothing about the U.S. withdrawal would seem to indicate any form of job creation in Youngstown,” he said.

In a tweet, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, concisely and powerfully summarized the negative consequences of the abandonment: “It destroys American leadership, wipes out clean-energy jobs and hurts our environment.

What’s more, the fact that the Paris climate agreement is a nonbinding international accord makes Trump’s pullout look even more like self-serving grandstanding to his largely middle-class noncollege-educated base.

The Paris agreement, after all, did not force the U.S. to actually achieve the greenhouse-gas reductions envisioned in the pact. Nor did it outlaw any of the many environmental policy rollbacks that the chief executive has implemented since taking office in January.

STATES, CITIES TAKE UP FIGHT

Fortunately, however, for those who recognize the documented dangers of climate change – from dramatically lowered sea levels of Lake Erie to the extinction of many animal species to the widespread growth in ravaging droughts – all is not lost.

Former President Barack Obama, who championed policies to reverse global warming in the U.S. and who stood as a conscientious leader at the Paris climate negotiations in 2015, issued this challenge in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s announcement:

“Even in the absence of American leadership; even as this administration joins a small handful of nations [Syria and Nicaragua] that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect future generations.”

It is a challenge that must be accepted.

Already, more and more states have been joining the new United States Climate Alliance, a coalition that commits states to meeting emission reduction targets of the Paris accord regardless of the course the federal government takes.

Similarly, mayors across the nation have signed on to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The state of Ohio and mayors of cities throughout the Valley should lend their support to such forward-thinking efforts.

In so doing, cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh and Youngstown can stand united alongside cities such as Paris and others across the globe with steely resolve to minimize the potential for long-term environmental degradation spurred on by climate change.