Schwarzenegger: Stop whining about Trump and act on climate change

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11 hours ago

Credit: BBC
Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged environmentalists to 'stop whining' about Donald Trump's approach to climate change and instead 'get to work'.
The veteran actor, 77, said Mr Trump was not a barrier to change and activists should stop using him as an excuse not to act.
'I've noticed people always said to me: 'Well, what is the point of fighting the environmental issue here and to reduce pollution, with Trump in the White House?'' the activist told the BBC after appearing on stage at a climate conference in Vienna.
Mr Trump and his administration have repeatedly called climate change a hoax, despite the scientific evidence.
'I tell them: 'Hey, stop whining,'' he continued. 'We all have a responsibility. What – do you think that action comes only for the whole world out of Washington, the White House? No. You have to be aware of your obstacles, but you should not go and use them as an excuse.'
The former Republican governor of California, who focused on environmental issues during his time in office, has continued campaigning globally on climate change since leaving politics.
'Be the mayor that makes buses electric; be the CEO who ends fossil fuel dependence; be the school that puts [up] solar roofs,' he said at the Austrian World Summit, a climate event in Vienna he helped to organise.
'You can't just sit around and make excuses because one guy in a very nice White House on Pennsylvania Avenue doesn't agree with you,' said Schwarzenegger.
'I know that the people are sick and tired of the whining and the complaining and the doom and gloom,' he said. 'The only way we win the people's hearts and minds is by showing them action that makes their lives better.'
On his first day in office, Mr Trump fulfilled his energy campaign promises by ending the Democrats' war on fossil fuels. He issued executive orders promoting oil and gas production and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement.
The president also withdrew from other commitments in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Mr Trump has pledged to open hundreds more coal-fired power plants and to halt closures driven by environmental regulations in an effort to compete with China, the world's largest source of carbon emissions.
However, Beijing has embarked on its own ambitious clean energy plans, including rolling out affordable electric vehicles domestically and internationally that compete fiercely with Tesla.
Much of that has been driven by an interest in boosting the Chinese economy, and to clear the blanket of thick black smoke and smog that has covered China for decades and upset the country's residents.
Coal is the most polluting form of energy, and has contributed to significant health risks and even fatalities in China.
As the world's most populous nation with more than 1.4 billion people – more than four times that of the US – China has extremely high energy demands to keep the country running.
While the US also has energy demands to meet, the country was previously seen as a leader in climate change, particularly under Barack Obama, and in bringing the world together to lower global emissions.
However, Mr Trump has reversed his predecessors' energy agenda on net zero and incentives for wind and solar, going against what many other countries are doing.
The UK, for instance, became the first G7 country to end the use of coal power when it shut down its last coal-fired power station last September.
The government has also banned all new fossil fuel extraction in a bid to accelerate the move toward renewable energy sources.
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