Yesterday, it was revealed that Donald Trump will follow his scientifically dubious instincts and pull America out of the Paris climate change deal, putting the country alongside Nicaragua (which didn’t think the deal went far enough) and Syria (kind of busy right now) on the outside of the agreement. It’s still possible that Trump may announce he’s staying in – especially as the reality TV showman in him probably hates having his cliffhangers stamped on. We’ll find out later today for sure.
One man who is distinctly unimpressed with this is turn of events is Elon Musk, who currently sits on two of the president’s advisory councils: an economic advisory board and the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is a real advocate for combating climate change, but has stood been dedicated to working with the Trump administration despite donating to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “The more voices of reason that the president hears, the better,” he told Gizmodo back in January. 
It looks like he’s finding out what he probably should have suspected all along: Trump doesn’t really listen to you unless you’re agreeing with him. As the story broke that Trump was preparing to pull out of the Paris agreement, Musk posted a tweet that can be summed up as “well, I tried guys.”
Pushed by one of his followers as to what he’d do if Trump pulls out, Musk said that he’d have to dump Trump.
Will this be enough to change Trump’s mind? Probably not, but the good news, as I wrote yesterday is that while it’s a bit of a diplomatic disaster, pulling out of the Paris agreement doesn’t necessarily mean that America is a lost cause in the fight against climate change. Much of the good work on reducing carbon emissions is being spearheaded by business and local government – and that’s likely to continue. Not to mention the fact that the official path to exiting the Paris agreement will take us up to the next election, when it’s plausible that another candidate could reaffirm America’s commitment to following the scientific consensus.
So while this isn’t exactly good news, it’s not as bad as headlines first make it appear.
Images: Maurizio Pesce and OnInnovation used under Creative Commons
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