BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Shortly after new U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the White House website published the America First Energy Plan, which has aggravated the anxiety and criticism concerning where Trump will lead the country to.
The shift in energy policies, as seen in the website change of deleting these issues about climate change and claiming to embrace the shale oil and gas revolution, didn't come from nowhere. During his presidential campaign, Trump had blamed climate change as a "hoax," and threatened to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Observers worldwide are watching with uneasiness whether the biggest developed country in the world will backslide on climate change or not.
If so, "all countries stand to lose," "most of all the U.S.," cautioned Rob Bailey, a research director on energy, environment and resources with the London-based think tank Chatham House.
He elaborated that while the United States is expected to take a more protectionist approach to trade, it is possible that other countries might impose tariffs on American imports to adjust for the lower emissions costs of U.S. exporters.
Moreover, American prosperity will not be served by its economy remaining shackled to fossil fuels while the rest of the world has already transited away from them, Bailey noted.
Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the British Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, was quoted by the Guardian newspaper as advising Trump: "If you want to make America great again, building modern, clean and smart infrastructure makes tremendous commercial and national sense."
"There is no long-term, high-carbon growth story, because destruction of the environment would reverse growth," he added.
Dame Julia King, an official adviser to the British government at the Committee on Climate Change, echoed.
In King's opinion, if Trump wants to deliver greater job security for Americans, he should focus on clean and sustainable industries where the United States has a competitive advantage and are set to prosper.
"He needs to build an economy for 2050, not one for 1950," said the official adviser.
According to Richard Black, director of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a non-governmental organization, the changing economics of energy systems can't be reversed, just as public appetite for clean air and cool things like electric cars can't be wished away.
In a responsive statement, America's Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune referred to Trump's energy policies as "a polluter wishlist that will make our air and water dirtier, our climate and international relations more unstable, and our kids sicker," adding that this is "a shameful and dark start to Trump's Presidency, and a slap in the face to any American who thought Trump might pursue the national interest."
Barbara Finamore, Asia director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S.-based environmental advocacy group, wrote in a recent blog: "Trump has given every sign that he would rather move backward, into our unsustainable past, than move forward-alongside China and other signatories to the Paris climate agreement-into the sustainable future."
Deborah Seligsohn, an expert on China's climate and energy policies at the University of California San Diego, told Xinhua, "Obviously the U.S. partners in the world need to be prepared to speak up for what they believe is necessary and to press the U.S. to meet its commitments," highlighting the fact that both the energy secretary and the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) administrator nominated by Trump stand in opposition to constructive climate action.
2011年实用口语练习:你把事情搞砸了
2011年实用口语练习:In the bookstore 在书店里
英语口语主题:交际英语热门话题47个(3--邀请)
2011年实用口语练习:今天我做东
2011年实用口语练习:我是无辜的
实用口语情景轻松学:您要的早餐送上来了
英语口语-商业谨致问候语
2011年实用口语练习:“挑刺儿”
实用口语情景轻松学:有假钞的时候要送到银行去
英语口语:怎样放“狠话”让对方离你远点
2011年实用口语练习:“淘金热”
2011年实用口语练习:高铁开通了
2011年实用口语练习:At the post office 在邮局
实用口语情景轻松学:我怀疑我是否能及格
2011年实用口语练习:出恭的各种表达
英语口语主题:交际英语热门话题47个(25--竞选和辩论)
2011年实用口语练习:5=击掌?
口语情景对话:走遍美国精选 当仁不让 ACT 3 - 2
如何用英文表达“欣赏,感激”
2011年实用口语练习:歉意如何说出口 1
9句狠话教你怎么用英语让人“滚开”
如何用英语表达“原来啊…”
英语口语-商业信函用语引言
实用口语情景轻松学:秋天是北京最好的季节
如何用英文表达“我不太想做某事”
2011年实用口语练习:取钱那些事
实用口语:关于衣服的必备短语
如何用英文表达“满意”
2011年实用口语练习:“锅中的火花”
如何用英文表达“你活该”
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |