Alexander Plaza
Gillis, Justin. "Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback." The New York Times. The New York Times, 02 Jan. 2017. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.
The article I reviewed is "Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback”, by Justin Gillis. In the article, Gillis explains that there may not be as bad news for the environment as most thought when Trump took the election. Gillis explains that the transition to renewable energy is becoming increasingly apparent and will continue to happen, regardless of Trump. For example, Gillis cites that the federal government recently auctioned off a piece of land in the ocean offshore of New York for a wind farm. The tract of land sold for $42 million. The author points out that this is twice the amount of money that the government got from an oil lease in the Gulf of Mexico. He also points out that wind-farm technician is projected to be the fastest growing occupation in America over the next decade. Gillis goes on to say that the federal government really has little say over American energy policy so Trump may not be able to rollback policy. Trump would have to fight state rights and a growing business that is creating jobs for Americans. The most damage that can be done by Trump is in the international effort against climate change. David G. Victor, a professor at the University of California at San Diego and a close observer of global climate politics, pointed out that the Paris agreement signed by the nations of the world only a year ago to tackle global warming is still very fragile. The obama administration pledged to take money from taxes to aid other countries devastated by climate change to adjust. Trump is likely to abandon this pledge but Dr. Victor notes, “That’s a big part of the glue that held the Paris deal together”. Gillis explains that the real problem is what Trump will not do. The transition to renewable energy is too slow and the Paris Agreement is not ambitious enough. A president who will push strong for renewable energy and reform is needed to aid the transition. Gillis argues, that president is not Donald Trump.
Gillis makes some very good points in his article. Climate change is affecting everyone and the actions taken today by Trump will affect generations after. The actions Trump take may not necessarily affect anybody directly now, but like Gillis explained, the world needs to take action collectively and quickly. Trump’s decisions can drastically slow progress that has been made on a global scale. 2016 has been the hottest year topping 2015 and then 2014. Seas will keep rising and heat waves will become more intense, not to mention the many other negative affects on wildlife if climate change continues to be affected by humans.
I thought that this article was very well written and informative. I felt that Gillis was very logical and always provided relevant examples like the example of the tract being sold off the shore of New York. I think that the author should have added more expert opinion on the subject, for example the opinion of a environmental scientist. Other than that, I enjoyed this article and was very interested.
ReplyDeleteGillis, Justin. "Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback." The New
York Times. The New York Times, 02 Jan. 2017. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/science/donald-trump-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
Alex wrote an excellent review to the article “Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback” by Justin Gillis. I thought that Alex did a great job of providing evidence to prove the author’s point that Donald Trump may not have the detrimental effect on the environment that he is expected to have as President. Alex explains that the transition to renewable energy will continue to occur regardless of Trump and cites the example of an island that recently sold as a wind farm for more money than the government received from an oil lease in the Gulf of Mexico. He also supports the position by citing the author who claims that the federal government has little say in the national energy policy, which convinces the reader of the author’s argument. Alex wrote an informed and convincing piece on the significance of this article to society. He explains that while Donald Trump’s actions and policies may not affect us now, his decisions could slow progress on combating climate change and could drastically affect the lives of future generations. In this way, Alex convinces the reader of the importance of Donald Trump’s decisions as a President and reminds the reader of the many negative environmental effects of climate change. I also agree with Alex that Gillis should have included the opinions of experts or scientists in order to support his view because it would have given his argument more merit.
Although Alex wrote a great review of his current event article, there are some areas that could be improved. I think that his report would have been stronger if Alex had included a quote from the article. In this way, he could have added a convincing or striking piece of information or opinion. I also think that Alex could have been more detailed when critiquing the article because his comments were somewhat vague and general. If he had been more specific or if he had provided more than one criticism, he would have written a more thorough current event report.
After reading this article, I have learned that Donald Trump may not totally ruin all of the progress made by the world in an effort to control climate change. Before I read this article, I had been very worried about the environment changing drastically because I thought that he was going to cut funding to all programs trying to combat climate change. This article claims that the efforts against climate change will continue slowly, and it proves that people are going to have to become more involved in the future of this planet because of Trump’s policies.
Gillis, Justin. "Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback." The New
ReplyDeleteYork Times. The New York Times, 02 Jan. 2017. Web. 02 Jan. 2017.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/science/donald-trump-global-warming.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0
I immensely enjoyed Alex’s review of the article “Weak Federal Powers Could Limit Trump’s Climate-Policy Rollback.” Alex did a great job of giving a full summary of the article and providing relevant details to aid the reader’s understanding of the issue. I also thought that Alex’s discussion of wind farms was an important point, and gave evidence to his claim that Trump’s presidency may not impact the rise of renewable energy. Finally, Alex’s criticism of the article, that the author should have included more expert opinion, seems quite credible and I am inclined to agree with him.
Although Alex’s review was very informative, there are a few things he could have done to improve it. I would have liked to see a quote from the article, in order to get a sense of the author’s tone and further understand the point they were trying to make. I would have also liked to have some background information on the Paris Climate Agreements discussed in the review.
Overall, I learned a great deal from Alex’s review and I have some hope that Donald Trump will not totally ruin the environment (kind of). Hopefully the author is correct in his argument and future generations will not be put at risk due to Trump’s inaction in regards to climate change.