Trump presidency presents challenges and opportunities for the environment
Duan Biggs and colleagues suggest in The Conversation (15.12.16) that, while Trump’s more extreme campaign promises may not eventuate, substantive changes in how the US engages with the world on environmental, and many other, issues are likely.
‘Donald Trump’s presidential victory on November 8 came as a shock to many, and has alarmed scientists, NGOs and governments around the world. As we write in Nature today, the global environmental community is particularly concerned by Trump’s anti-climate and broader anti-environmental stance during his presidential campaign.
‘Trump’s more extreme campaign statements may not eventuate. But there will most likely be substantive changes in how the United States engages with the world on environmental, and many other, issues.
‘Yet the environmental movement must not wallow in despair at the prospect of President Trump. It must instead actively look for opportunities under a post-Obama administration.’
Trump has embraced pseudoscience and its deceptive tactics in a post-truth world
Michael J Brown writes about Trump, pseudoscience and deception in The Conversation (12.12.16):
As a scientist, I expect the Trump presidency to have a curious familiarity.
Why? Because the relentless stream of falsehoods and character attacks of Trump’s campaign mainstreamed disinformation tactics that biologists, immunologists and climate scientists have come to know and despise.
Trump has embraced pseudoscience and its accompanying conspiracy theories. He’s tweeted that climate change is a hoax and vaccines cause autism.