If you're one of the many feeling shell-shocked in the wake of President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, you're not alone. Former president Barack Obama just issued a characteristically articulate response in which he denounced Trump's White House for its short-sighted rejection of the future.
"The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created," Obama said in a statement per The Washington Post. "I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack."
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The Paris agreement marked a turning point in the global fight against climate change, uniting almost 200 nations worldwide to legally ratify action against pollution. In withdrawing from the Paris agreement, described by Obama as "the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children," Trump puts the United States in the company of just two other nations: Syria and Nicaragua.
"Even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future," Obama's statement continued, "I'm confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we've got."
Watch Trump's announcement here:
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Emma Dibdin is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who writes about culture, mental health, and true crime. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything.
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