Oh, to be a mouse in the corner when President-elect Donald Trump had a conversation with former Vice President Al Gore in Trump Tower.
Dare we hope that Gore has begun to convince skeptic Trump that human-caused climate change is a reality? There was a tantalizing ray of optimism when Gore emerged from the meeting and said this:
“I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect. It was a sincere search for areas of common ground. I had a meeting beforehand with Ivanka Trump. The bulk of the time was with the president-elect, Donald Trump. I found it an extremely interesting conversation, and to be continued.”
Apparently, Ivanka Trump is a true believer in human-caused climate change. Will she change her father’s attitude? Will Gore help her change his mind? For the sake of this planet, let us hope so.
Remember, during the campaign, Trump claimed human-caused climate change was a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, those villains who populate all too many of Trump’s doomster fantasies. That was only one of his extremist pronouncements then. This is now. Now, he has backed away from some of his threats and campaign promises, such as “Lock her up!” and repealing Obamacare lock, stock and barrel. He’s even cottoned up to President Obama, whom he once considered an illegitimate president because he wasn’t even born in America but who is now suddenly a “really nice guy” after a meeting with him in the White House.
As Trump’s victory landed him smack dab in the swamp that is Washington, D.C. – the swamp he wants to drain – he is suddenly singing a different frog-croak tune, along with his entourage of billionaires and generals all so eager to help the working people. Perhaps the best way Trump can help the little people – and everybody else on this fragile planet – is to endorse and fight for the worldwide efforts against climate change that Obama and others have worked so hard to negotiate into being.
These days, it’s hard to know just which Trump will be inaugurated as president Jan. 20. Will it be Trump the science-denier? Or will it be Trump the champion of climate health? Will Gore, climate scientists and daughter Ivanka convince him he should adhere to the Paris climate accord? It’s so hard to know because Trump is infamous for his flickering attitudes, flip-flops, inconsistencies, twittering insults, petulant moods and sudden reversals.
There are 195 good reasons why we should hope Trump sees the light. The agreement reached in Paris, which Trump said he would cancel, is vital to preserve the earth for future generations. The accord, negotiated by 195 countries, was adopted in 2015. The goal, underlined with widespread consensus, aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions dramatically by 2020. What’s remarkable is the accord is not some wishy-washy dream pact; it’s shored up by all kinds of technological advances, mutual aids, financial grants, transparencies – especially strong among the three countries that now produce the largest greenhouse-gas emissions: China, the United States and India. They (the enlightened ones in those countries) understand all too well how earth will become nothing but a revolving cemetery unless we do something about human-caused climate change – now.
The meeting between Trump and Gore brought a glimmer of hope to those of us who believe unless greenhouse-gas emissions are drastically reduced, this planet is doomed to poisonous ruination. Was Trump just playing with Gore, the way a cat plays with a mouse? Or is he really listening sincerely to opposition voices and wisely considering divergent opinions from the likes of Gore, Romney and Obama? Could it be Trump is learning the hard way about the night-and-day differences between bloated campaign bluster and the tough, complicated decisions required of the leader of the free world?
Well, at the very least, Gore, himself, a Nobel Prize-winner for his efforts to slow and reverse climate change, seems to think Trump is showing a keen interest in the subject. When Gore announced, after his meeting in Trump Tower, that their conversation was “extremely interesting” and that it will be “continued,” that is truly a cause for hope, if not celebration.
If soon-to-be President Trump, cultivating a new open-mindedness, can harness his iconoclastic attitudes to scientific, rational methods, he just might move mountains. After all, it’s never too late to learn. Are you listening, Mr. Trump?
