On Tuesday, students walked across campus proudly displaying “I Voted” stickers stuck to their short-sleeved t-shirts. Voters basked on College Green, taking in a balmy 75-degree day before the election results arrived. Later that night, Donald Trump was announced as the 47th President of the United States, along with his drastic climate policies.
On Election Day, cities nationwide set records for high temperatures. Around the world, scientists clamored to spread the news that 2024 will be the first year on record to breach the 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit. Each data set is a testament to the importance of climate change policy.
Yet, despite recent devastating environmental events, climate change took a backseat during this year’s election cycle. Hurricanes Milton and Helene tore across entire towns, wiping out whole communities. Droughts raged through Southeast Ohio, snapping the agriculture industry under its impacts. The U.S. lost billions of dollars to environmental disasters in the last year.
Elected officials determine the next steps for climate policy. By electing Donald Trump as president, the U.S. has put him in charge of deciding our future climate. Examining his last presidential term puts what awaits ahead for climate change policy into perspective.
Trump has long been on the record as viewing human-caused climate change as a “hoax.” From 2016 to 2020, Trump’s administration reversed over 100 environmental and climate policies. These changes included dismantling “rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals,” according to The New York Times.
The president-elect previously withdrew from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to combat climate change and global warming. The ruling was reversed during the Biden administration’s first day in office. However, Trump stated he will withdraw from the agreement again once he takes office.
Lobbyists have also drafted executive orders ahead of Trump’s election to leave the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. If signed, Trump would pull the U.S. from future participation in United Nations climate talks.
Trump has made his planned environmental policies clear for the next four years, frequently speaking at rallies and during interviews.
“Who the hell cares?” Trump said last week, responding to concerns about rising sea levels. At the same rally, Trump promised to terminate the Green New Deal, a national treaty meant to reshape the U.S. economy with the climate in mind. Although the treaty has not been fully passed, the U.S. has implemented policies aligned with the deal.
Trump also plans to significantly increase oil and natural gas drilling, to strengthen energy production and bring down prices. “We will frack, frack, frack and drill, baby, drill,” Trump said at a rally last month.
Numerous individuals in the Trump administration support Project 2025, suggesting it may have a role in the incumbent president’s future term. According to Axios, the initiative led by the Heritage Foundation would privatize the National Weather Service and dismantle the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
However, Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, a potentially hopeful sign for weather forecasting.
Upon Trump’s return to the White House for his second term in January 2025, he will retake control of the country’s efforts to mitigate climate change. Based on his previous term in office, climate policies will likely undergo significant backward change.