By Charly SHELTON

Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1 and almost immediately the leaders of the world issued statements to condemn the action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “extremely regrettable,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was “disheartening,” former Mexican President Vincente Fox said Trump is “leaving a dark legacy just to satisfy your greediness. Today, you’ve surrendered the hopes and future of a nation.” Even The Vatican, feeling that it may happen before the announcement, was disapproving.

“If he really does [pull out], it would be a huge slap in the face for us,” said Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, in an interview with La Repubblica newspaper in Rome. “It will be a disaster for everyone.”

Closer to home, JPL Climatologist and Oceanographer Bill Patzert echoed the sentiment of world leaders.

“Pulling out of the Paris climate agreement is a moral disgrace! Shame on Donald Trump,” Patzert said. “He has opted for even more and more carbon to accumulate in the atmosphere, causing global temperatures to continue their dangerous rise, causing harmful future environmental outcomes to increase. More carbon ensures our future will be swamped cities, scorched crops, pandemics – nothing you would wish upon your children, or anyone else’s.”

And while the environmental effects have yet to set in, as the Paris Agreement’s first big deadline is not for another three years, it is apparent from the backlash that President Trump’s decision to withdraw has most directly led to a battle for the hearts and minds. This issue affects, most immediately, the United States’ position in the world’s ideoscape and financescape.

“First it signals that the United States is no longer prepared to lead the free world when it comes to one of the top challenges facing the planet, and that is climate change. So the President has essentially ceded leadership of that to other nations. And that is, I think, big and detrimental to our standing in the world,” said Congressman Adam Schiff. “But second, even though the decision doesn’t have an immediate impact in the sense that it will take time to unwind what went into the agreement, there are large companies that are planning their investments in renewable energy technologies and there are municipalities that are trying to figure out where they’re going to get their energy from, and power plants that are considering whether to retool. They were all aligning their decisions with the Paris Agreement and moving to cleaner technologies. Now there’s a question raised about whether they should make those investments.”

In addition to the investment from energy companies and municipalities, there is a growing market for renewable energy technology emerging. As of now, it remains along the fringe of the market as a luxury item. But as the rest of the world moves forward with the Paris Agreement and supports the effort to move away from fossil fuels and into universal clean renewable energy, the technology will become more in demand, more affordable and more commonplace.

“Whichever country leads the energy revolution will derive enormous benefits, and we’re already seeing China and India aggressively investing in solar and other renewable technologies, [such as] new car battery technologies. The U.S. cannot afford to cede leadership there because it’s a huge sector of our economy,” Schiff said. “It’s why you even see the large oil companies are supportive of staying in the climate agreement because many of them are making efforts to diversify their portfolios. So it would be a disaster for us economically to basically cede the leadership of research and development and formation of new energy technologies.”

In the absence of environmental leadership from the federal government, the task falls to state and local governments, as well as large corporations, to commit to uphold the Agreement independently. Many mayors, governors and corporate CEOs, including California Gov. Jerry Brown and companies with California locations like Facebook, General Electric, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Disney, Tesla and more, have already come out in support and pledged their continued efforts towards slowing climate change.

“Without participation of the U.S. [federal government], the transition to renewable energy will continue – even at state and local levels within the U.S. The moral and economic momentum, especially in California, is unstoppable,” Patzert said.

Congressman Schiff echoed the sentiment.

“I’m really pleased to see things push back in the other direction. Our governor has really stepped up to be one of the U.S. leaders on climate. Jerry Brown recently met with [Chinese] President Xi and he’s stepping into the shoes that our President should be wearing,” Schiff said. “A lot will depend on what state leadership and corporate leadership can do to [fill] the vacuum that’s been left.”

  Charly Shelton