This is a video of one of the clashes that I am talking about. The Grizzley bear population in 1975 ( in the lower 48 states) was just 700-800 (this excludes Alaska, where the current figure is 30,000) . The lower 48 states population has grown to around 1000 or an almost 50% increase.
There is a problem with this. Both in and out of Alaska (as well as Canada) these bears need space, and so are colonizing land that they previously roamed. Unfortunately, people rapidly forget how to live with animals like grizzly bears, so it is taking some significant work to live alongside these large animals once again.
The problem is, that when those encounters spike, generally authorities panic, and this generally leads to them looking to allow hunting once again. THIS IS DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE POPULATION IS NO-WHERE NEAR RECOVERED AT THE CURRENT TIME.
I am not going to pretend that this is not bad. Donald Trumps former term was bad for the natural world and the fight against climate change. Likely changes:
Leaving the Paris climate agreement again – there is some suggestion that this will lead to a collapse of the agreement. Trump has pushed coal among other fossil fuels, and is likely to roll back various progress. Perhaps a possible hope is Elon Musk and his closeness to Donald Trump – might this relationship mean that less is done against electric cars? Last time, the USA carbon emissions fell despite everything that Trump did (definitely not because). Keeping temperature increases to just 1.5 degrees Celsius is pretty much impossible, if the USA does not do its part.
Denialism and doubt will return – it is not just that Donald Trump is not willing to work towards the end of carbon emissions, but he does not believe that global warming is real. This is a real indictment on how he forms his views of the world, as it is a simple fact that the world is warming
Clean energy policies will go, along with scientific decisions on wolves and other wildlife within the country. This is quite likely to have an impact on global biodiversity, as the USA will abandon its lead on this.
Under Trump the first time, protected status for species no longer required the same protections, and much wilderness in the USA lost its protection. A return to office is likely to make this far worse.
The situation is serious. Having been president before, it is highly likely that trump will be more effective this time, as he knows more than last time. He has retaken the Senate, and it looks like he is going to take the house as well. Will he manage to use his position more effectively? Leadership on climate, biodiversity and many more things will fall open, we must wait and see if other countries step up to fill their shoes, and continue to push forwards.
We all know what Donald Trump is like. On climate change, he changes what he says on each time. However, his beliefs become clear, when we look at his behaviour. He took the USA out of the Paris climate accord, and made every effort to reverse all improvements on this front.
There are many reasons not to vote for Trummp. While there is a baffling desire to support Donald Trump from the Christian right, consider the factsÂ
He is a thrice married man, who has cheated on all his wives
He does not have any idea on the bible, and while he tries to suggest he is a Christian, has no idea what the bible contains.Â
He has no idea what it is to be a Christian, what it means (see video below). Jesus turned himself over to be killed by the authorities, look at what it means, before voting for this man again. You may disagree with everything that Biden has done, but he is clearly a man who has a relationship with God, look at it rationally before voting for a man who has shown himself to be unsuitable for the role.
What is a Donald Trump second term going to mean for the environment, nature and climate change?
He is especially opposed to wind power and has promised to halt offshore wind development, which he claims harms marine life. Not only is impact on marine life not true, these are not only the cleanest, but also the cheapest ways to make power (wind and solar is currently around 50% less than coal power, and this is only getting better).
Trump greatly expanded the right to hunt on federal land. His changes increased hunting of wolves to such an extent that many years of progress was lost. Grizzly bears are in a similar position, as well as Jaguars and many other more common species.
While carbon emissions did fall under Trump, this was despite not because of him. He relaxed rules on carbon emissions from cars (despite the opposite direction that the market is going).
He has greatly expanded drilling for both oil and gas, and has no intention of curtailing this. We cannot afford to burn all the fossil fuels, but this is not Trumps position.
He rolled back over 100 major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals, despite his mantra of clean air and clean water. Click here to view a new york times with all of these in detail.
This is just a quick list of some of the reasons why you should not vote for this man. Should you have children, or child relatives, it should be obvious why, and I would hope that even without descendants, you would want to leave the world in a better place.
Please share this, and other similar articles with friends who can vote. Lets help Americans to recognize the danger that Trump poses – analysis shows that should climate change continue, the USA falls in just third from the top, in terms of the amount they are likely to have to pay, should climate change continue.
Hand-over to Donald Trumps first term, could President Obamas vice president have to hand over the white house to the same person?
Some of us find politics fascinating, some do not, but you might quite reasonably ask why look at in on a wildlife and environment blog?
It is, unfortunately, a simple fact that not only is the USA still the biggest economy in the world, but it is the second biggest emitter. Currently the USA emits around 13.7% of the worlds carbon dioxide with a population of 4.23% of the world. In other words, the USA has a huge amount of cutting to do – if the USA cut its emissions by two thirds, then each individual would emit the worlds average amount of carbon dioxide, however, given the need to reach net zero as soon as possible, they have a long way to go.
Why is this relevent?
Last time, while Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement (it had no penalties, so pulling out did nothing) as well as encouraging drilling and deforestation and basically anything that would take us the wrong way in terms of climate change. Intentional? who knows, though it certainly went against many peoples interests, which only made Trump happier!
Currently 35% of Americans like trump, while 63% dislike him (an incredibly small percentage which has no opinion.
Currently, 47% of Americans support republicans, while 42% support democrats. That leaves 11% of Americans not in either camp. There is lots more analysis to be done on this, but what is clear, is that Donald Trump has a strong chance to return to the white house, and essentially the decision is largely in the hands of the people that do not support either major party.
So what would a second term contain?
More fossil fuel production?
Ignoring Scientists
Ignoring rules which are there to reduce warming gases in the atmosphere.
What is clear, is that if Trump gets back into the white house, it is virtually certain that we cannot avoid 1.5 degree warming, as it will delay everything for a further 4 years. The clearest move is that he will work to undo all positive environmental moves, enacted by Biden during his term.
This the world cannot afford, but over 95% of the planet gets no vote. Readers in the USA, it seems unnecessary to spell out why he should not be in a position of power. The damage he will do to the environment worries people around the globe. His move to overturn treaties is likely to harm the rest of the world, but what does USA citizens have to look forwards to?
Higher prices on all imports – because of his desire to have trade wars with the rest of the world.
He claims to have changed his mind on Obamacare – but it appears that this is simply because as it has unfolded, it has got popular. The fact of the matter is that if he could, he would have dismantled it in his first time. Can he be trusted to maintain it? I would not
He finished his term, desperately trying to tear down democracy in the USA. Can he be trusted? I would not, but clearly there is still many who would.
I think any country who does not ban a man who did everything legal and illegal to overturn a fair election, and does not bar him from office is mad. I find it hard to believe that even the USA would be foolish enough to re-elect him, but the same was thought last time. We are slowly building progress and agreement on climate change, please dont throw that out.
Through out his time in the white house, Donald Trump attacked climate change science foolishly mocked it by pointing out hot weather and generally undermined the long-term leading position that the American government has had in the climate change fight. It is of course true, that what ever words presidents have said about climate change, they have not invested enough in doing something about it. As such, despite having roughly 5% of the worlds population, the USA is the second biggest emitter, emitting roughly 15% of the world emissions each year.
