The United States, the proverbial “shining city upon a hill,” is a beacon of global leadership and an arbiter of moral authority. But people around the world increasingly see climate change as a top threat and, with the president of the United States unwilling to even acknowledge the problem, Washington risks ceding its authority, with profound consequences.
On Sunday, Pew Research Center released results from a survey conducted in the Spring 2018 on international threat perceptions. The data from 26 nations shows that in half of the countries surveyed, climate change tops the list and ranks highly across the board. Other major concerns included the Islamic State, cyberattacks, and North Korea. The full results are here.
Even as Pew published that data, President Trump was tweeting this:
Well, it happened again. Amy Klobuchar announced that she is running for President, talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech she looked like a Snowman(woman)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 10, 2019
As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has pointed out, in response to Trump’s tweets before, just because it’s snowing doesn’t mean that global temperatures aren’t rising.
Such remarks have serious implications for U.S. global leadership. By pulling out of the debate — or worse, mocking their entire discussion — the U.S. is signaling to other countries that the role of global leader is vacant. And that leaves the position open to rivals who would use the crisis to implement an undemocratic solution as a means to cementing their power and influence.
China, for example, has responded to climate issues within its borders and developed energy projects abroad, Beijing’s approach is unlikely to prioritize democracy, sovereignty, or respect even a baseline of human rights or even work as intended. Instead, it will likely seek to capitalize on its growing influence to cement its own power.
On the world stage, the U.S. has held itself up as a country that speaks truth against threats to freedom and democracy. But on climate change, it has abdicated leadership in the face of a global threat. As Trump-appointed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats made clear in the Worldwide Threat Assessment, climate change is a national security threat, right alongside ISIS, North Korea, and Russia.
