Trump’s Heated Policies In A Heating World

Calder Wysong ’27

As I’m writing this, the day is Saturday, February 16. Just a few hours prior, I was walking home from Union Square–an area plenty of Bard students know quite well. For them, it’s a  stop to get home, visit a friend, or buy something to eat. And yet, there’s one specific part of the Square that very few seem to notice. As I’m walking past the Square, I glance up at a landmark that I’ve taken quite a notice of over my time involved in climate advocacy–the Union Square Climate Clock. First constructed in 2020, the clock presents a harrowing statistic of our time left to reverse our increasing growth of fossil fuels and stay under the 1.5 degree Celsius boundary. As I gaze up at the clock, it reads a grim number: 4 YRS, 156 DAYS, 18:53:54. 

This number reflects the imminent threat the climate crisis poses. It’s a crisis that runs on a clock. And, from what we’ve gathered, our time is running out to advocate and create radical reforms within our climate policies and protocols. We must take action and find the next step forward. And yet, much of our current political field swings entirely away from this desired outcome. President Trump’s current environmental policies are only exacerbating the climate crisis, and he seems to have no plans to step away from his current agenda. In order to fully recognize how dire the current situation is,  we have to understand what President Trump’s  mission regarding the climate is–and what action has been taken in order to mitigate his vision.

President Trump has made his stance incredibly explicit in his campaigns that efforts towards climate change aren’t important and should instead be suppressed.The 2024 carbon footprint, according to the EIA, was 4,760 million metric tons as of 2024– and it seems that President Trump has no intentions of curtailing this statistic. According to the NPR article, “As Trump vows to embrace fossil fuels, U.S. climate policy won't change quickly,” within the first few weeks of his second term, Trump has severed ties to the Paris Agreement, an international treaty to reach net zero carbon emissions. Furthermore, he declared a national energy emergency, and shut down new wind energy projects on federal land. In spite of President Biden’s work of imparting one of the country’s most ambitious climate agendas during his term, one of the most significant acts under this agenda, the Inflation Reduction Act, had its funding cut under the new president. This Act funneled hundreds of millions of dollars towards sustainable forms of energy, including electric vehicles and cleaner manufacturing procedures. President Trump also defunded the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, a law enacted by President Biden in 2021. While its initial purpose was to provide funding for highway aid and safety, it was eventually amended to provide funding for clean water, as well as electric grid renewal. Not only was this deemed an effective countermeasure for the climate crisis within the sphere of transportation, but it was also economically beneficial, creating thousands of new jobs for the American working class. In effect, the lack of funding behind these significant environmental policies could drastically change the country’s approach to the effects of the climate crisis.

President Trump has also taken action against climate advocacy within the government by revoking the National Environmental Policy Act, known as NEPA. First founded in 1977 by President Carter, NEPA aimed for the government to assess the environmental impact of their proposed federal projects. “It is enforced, however, through private action: Individuals, companies, environmental groups, and so on can sue federal agencies for failing to conduct sufficient NEPA review,” according to the Vox article “Trump rescinded a half-century of environmental rules. Here’s what that could mean.” Along with his executive order to block the construction of offshore and onshore wind turbines on federal land, Trump revoked NEPA’s authority over regulations for the environmental impacts of federal agencies. His Department of Interior also suspended permits for all renewable energy projects a few days later, effectively eliminating government efforts towards the climate crisis. 

However, there is some hope for the future of the country’s climate protocol–action that can be taken on both a federal level, and action that we can take ourselves. In spite of Trump’s aggressive plan to reinforce fossil fuel emissions, many blue states have begun to take action to mitigate some of the repercussions of his agenda. For instance, Vermont passed a “first-of-its-kind law” known as the Climate Superfund Act during May of last year, which holds fossil fuel companies financially responsible for climate damages. A similar law was later passed last December in New York State. These laws aren’t just limited to two states, however, as others have been considered in New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and now Rhode Island, according to the Guardian article “‘The path forward is clear’: how Trump taking office has ‘turbocharged’ climate accountability efforts.” Unfortunately, these state laws have already faced incredible pushback from red states and numerous courts. Nonetheless, pro-environment laws like these have been passed with youth-led support–something we are all capable of as students. In spite of the difficult circumstances behind our current climate situation, we should strive for awareness and action as youth. We shouldn’t look at the climate clock as a symbol of an impending doom. Instead, we should see it as a tool to measure our action against a government that seems so against this current crisis.