Reject Trump’s false climate narrative
IN HIS ADDRESS to the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump portrayed climate agreements as a “globalist concept” that forces successful nations to “inflict pain on themselves.”
This framing is deeply misleading.
The real “pain” comes from failing to act: wildfires, floods, food shortages, and widespread economic disruption are not abstract risks, but lived realities that will worsen without emissions reductions.
International agreements, far from being acts of self-punishment, are acts of solidarity and recognition of common responsibility. Industrialized nations, who built their prosperity on fossil fuels, have both the capacity and the obligation to lead the transition.
Rather than a burden, this shift is an opportunity— clean energy industries already create millions of jobs, while preserving habitability for future generations.
Rejecting cooperation because it is “globalist” ignores the reality that the atmosphere has no borders. A politics of denial and isolation may sound defiant, but it leaves us all weaker in the face of this shared crisis.
Terry Hansen Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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