The "R" in Trump
It's no great surprise that someone as single minded in his business focus should view regulation, and environmental regulation in particular, as just an unnecessary hindrance to economic progress. To me it is apparent that Trump is of the type of highly successful business man who obtains a hyperinflated view of his self worth, excusing himself to bend rules or break them, or change them to his favor, find loopholes, peddle influence and throw his weight around, intimidate, bribe and subjugate. This type of business man views business as a game by which his self worth is determined, and thus equates the game with life. At some point during this game an ethic of "win at all cost" is adopted, and those who would support rules and regulations that stand in his way are viewed by him as peons and bureaucrats whose only goal is to obstruct his pathway to power.
The duration of the game is his professional lifetime, with perhaps some thought of legacy continuing through monuments or edifices bearing his name, and maybe through heirs and inheritors of his business. The skills and values he holds in highest regard are those used to manipulate and control people and their systems. He employs his knowledge of human nature to divine opportunities from capricious trends and fads, has a knack for finding profit in varied political and economic climates, and is a consummate master at wielding his monetary power and convincingly presenting his word as the last on any subject. The most convincing of such people is the one who most believes in his own infallibility.
This narrowly focused world view and associated skills may work well in business, where bluff and bluster can be assets, but nature and the environment are not deceived by self certain grandiloquence. As an endless stream of evidence shows, neglect, miscalculation, and bad judgement with regards to our environment and natural resources will have repercussions that far outlast any business, administration, or career. Denial will not stand against nature's truths.
During my career as an environmental consultant I worked with many developers, Trump's brand of businessman. There were a few who understood and appreciated the need for environmental regulation but many derided the laws I explained to them as too much worry about bugs and bunnies, or about swamps ditches and puddles. They had little interest in the tremendous amount of science that went in to developing laws and policies that protect our water quality, help prevent flood damage and erosion, and protect biodiversity. Their interest was in developing as much of their land as possible with the minimal time and expense. Environmental regulation to them meant only permits, time, and cost. Trump's long career in and self identification with the industry have likely solidified his animosity for environmental regulation and his dismissal of it as nothing but a hurdle to economic progress. With career long training in such a short term view of success, that it is tied to the next big project, it is no surprise that something that is not affecting his bottom line in an immediate way, something like climate change whose worst effects many warn will occur over the course of the century, is not on his list of real concerns.
Although it's hard to imagine that a man wily enough to pull off winning the presidency despite his baggage and many verbal blunders is also stupid enough to totally ignore the mountains of scientific evidence that prove climate change is occurring and is tied to increases in anthropogenic carbon emissions, that is what we are forced to believe from his decision to pull the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, from his appointment of prominent climate deniers and oil company executives as advisers and likely cabinet members, from his threats to tear down the EPA, and from his stated determination to eliminate restrictions on and speed up development of coal, oil, and gas resources. His climate change denial seems constant and resolute at a current snapshot, yet more investigation suggests his view on the subject may be more schizophrenic. In 2009 he signed a letter to President Obama calling for action on climate change, which the letter warned would cause "catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet" while the president attended talks on climate change with international leaders in Copenhagen. More recently, in 2016, the same year he was adamant and obstinate in climate change denial during the election, he applied for a permit to build a sea wall to protect a golf resort he owned, citing erosion due to sea level rise and increasing frequency of severe storms driven by climate change as reasons. What explains this climate change denial schizophrenia? Are there moments or events where the evidence is so strong that denial is impossible even for him, or is his public repudiation largely an act of expediency? Either way, the road down which he is planning to take this nation, this planet, and the next generation by unleashing oil, gas, and coal industries from regulation is irresponsible and dangerous. If he's looking for his name to be remembered through history he might just get that, but not for the reasons he wants. When the warm waters of the tropical coasts rise to flow through the lower floors of the buildings that bear his name, we will all remember.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-climate-miami-20160918-snap-story.html
http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Donald_Trump_Energy_+_Oil.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research?CMP=share_btn_fb
https://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/trump-buildings-underwater?utm_term=.kavyV9GkB#.virxavK7G
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/07/donald-trump-maralago-climate-change
https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-wants-to-build-another-wall-but-never-talks-about-it-heres-why-9635e8229ee8#.ei2r3cobi
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/17/502425711/hundreds-of-u-s-businesses-urge-trump-to-uphold-paris-climate-deal
http://www.forbes.com/sites/edfenergyexchange/2016/11/17/a-warning-for-donald-trump-gutting-epa-would-be-harder-and-more-perilous-than-you-think/2/#25abf3446b47
http://www.mercurynews.com/
http://www.npr.org/sections/
2016 Warmest year:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37949877
Record CO2:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37729033
Rapidly melting ice Antarctic ice sheets:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/25/499206005/antarcticas-ice-sheets-are-melting-faster-and-from-beneath
The duration of the game is his professional lifetime, with perhaps some thought of legacy continuing through monuments or edifices bearing his name, and maybe through heirs and inheritors of his business. The skills and values he holds in highest regard are those used to manipulate and control people and their systems. He employs his knowledge of human nature to divine opportunities from capricious trends and fads, has a knack for finding profit in varied political and economic climates, and is a consummate master at wielding his monetary power and convincingly presenting his word as the last on any subject. The most convincing of such people is the one who most believes in his own infallibility.
This narrowly focused world view and associated skills may work well in business, where bluff and bluster can be assets, but nature and the environment are not deceived by self certain grandiloquence. As an endless stream of evidence shows, neglect, miscalculation, and bad judgement with regards to our environment and natural resources will have repercussions that far outlast any business, administration, or career. Denial will not stand against nature's truths.
During my career as an environmental consultant I worked with many developers, Trump's brand of businessman. There were a few who understood and appreciated the need for environmental regulation but many derided the laws I explained to them as too much worry about bugs and bunnies, or about swamps ditches and puddles. They had little interest in the tremendous amount of science that went in to developing laws and policies that protect our water quality, help prevent flood damage and erosion, and protect biodiversity. Their interest was in developing as much of their land as possible with the minimal time and expense. Environmental regulation to them meant only permits, time, and cost. Trump's long career in and self identification with the industry have likely solidified his animosity for environmental regulation and his dismissal of it as nothing but a hurdle to economic progress. With career long training in such a short term view of success, that it is tied to the next big project, it is no surprise that something that is not affecting his bottom line in an immediate way, something like climate change whose worst effects many warn will occur over the course of the century, is not on his list of real concerns.
Although it's hard to imagine that a man wily enough to pull off winning the presidency despite his baggage and many verbal blunders is also stupid enough to totally ignore the mountains of scientific evidence that prove climate change is occurring and is tied to increases in anthropogenic carbon emissions, that is what we are forced to believe from his decision to pull the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, from his appointment of prominent climate deniers and oil company executives as advisers and likely cabinet members, from his threats to tear down the EPA, and from his stated determination to eliminate restrictions on and speed up development of coal, oil, and gas resources. His climate change denial seems constant and resolute at a current snapshot, yet more investigation suggests his view on the subject may be more schizophrenic. In 2009 he signed a letter to President Obama calling for action on climate change, which the letter warned would cause "catastrophic and irreversible consequences for humanity and our planet" while the president attended talks on climate change with international leaders in Copenhagen. More recently, in 2016, the same year he was adamant and obstinate in climate change denial during the election, he applied for a permit to build a sea wall to protect a golf resort he owned, citing erosion due to sea level rise and increasing frequency of severe storms driven by climate change as reasons. What explains this climate change denial schizophrenia? Are there moments or events where the evidence is so strong that denial is impossible even for him, or is his public repudiation largely an act of expediency? Either way, the road down which he is planning to take this nation, this planet, and the next generation by unleashing oil, gas, and coal industries from regulation is irresponsible and dangerous. If he's looking for his name to be remembered through history he might just get that, but not for the reasons he wants. When the warm waters of the tropical coasts rise to flow through the lower floors of the buildings that bear his name, we will all remember.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-climate-miami-20160918-snap-story.html
http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Donald_Trump_Energy_+_Oil.htm
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research?CMP=share_btn_fb
https://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/trump-buildings-underwater?utm_term=.kavyV9GkB#.virxavK7G
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/07/donald-trump-maralago-climate-change
https://thinkprogress.org/donald-trump-wants-to-build-another-wall-but-never-talks-about-it-heres-why-9635e8229ee8#.ei2r3cobi
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/17/502425711/hundreds-of-u-s-businesses-urge-trump-to-uphold-paris-climate-deal
http://www.forbes.com/sites/edfenergyexchange/2016/11/17/a-warning-for-donald-trump-gutting-epa-would-be-harder-and-more-perilous-than-you-think/2/#25abf3446b47
http://www.mercurynews.com/
http://www.npr.org/sections/
2016 Warmest year:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37949877
Record CO2:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37729033
Rapidly melting ice Antarctic ice sheets:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/25/499206005/antarcticas-ice-sheets-are-melting-faster-and-from-beneath
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