June 05, 2017

We'll always have Paris

editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Fulfilling his promise to put America first, President Donald Trump has put the earth and all its life second, and yanked America out of the Paris Climate Agreement, signed only two years ago. Only Syria and Nicaragua are the only other two nations not signed up to the accords.

The accords themselves are largely symbolic - they demonstrate a global consensus that climate science is settled, and that nations are willing to voluntarily work to reduce carbon emissions, and boost green technologies through investment. They don't actually commit any of those nations to doing anything concrete - rather, it's based on the unarticulated assumption that having stated something publicly, a nation would never wish to look so stupid and arrogant as to renege on it. Well, America, or more precisely, Trump's America has.

It hasn't achieved much, other than alienate American allies. The EU has distanced itself from the President, and American companies have already restated their commitment to lowering their carbon emissions, in the announcement's despite. Both China and India have said they will stick with the agreement; most likely because a large proportion of these countries' energy comes from green sources.

Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK, however, refused to denounce the move. This is politically savvy, maybe, since the UK looks set to spit in the face of every ally apart from the US over the next two years. But more interestingly, it demonstrates the wishful and magical thinking that has entranced both nations' establishments over the last few years. Trump really believes climate change isn't real, as May and her associates really believe they can have a strong, independent UK outside the EU. This is pure fantasy, ridiculous, isolationist fantasy. The world is more interconnected and interdependent than ever, and any kind of posturing to the contrary is simply a demonstration of deep ignorance.

Over the weekend, London was unfortunately struck with another terror attack - this time near London Bridge, and the mayhem left seven people dead, and many more injured.

This is the world we live in now - and cutting ourselves off with travel bans, exiting unions, taking ourselves out of treaties and accords simply won't work. We have to be smarter about our problems - we can start by recognising the fact that we live in an interdependent world.