President Donald Trump just fulfilled one of his campaign promises to his supporters when he withdrew the United States of America from the Paris Climate agreement, which was signed by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, on April 22, 2016, and ratified, accepted and approved by this country Sept. 3, 2016. It involved a partnership with 195 other countries across the globe.

The primary purpose of the agreement is to reduce carbon emission, which is deemed a significant contributor to global warming and climate change worldwide. The 195 countries primarily agreed to a framework policy that will allow them to adopt clean energy, which over time, will phase out fossil fuel.

Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris agreement on climate change has outraged a number of politicians on all sides of the political arena here in the United States. The 2016 Green Party presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, said the decision by Trump to break the accord does not bode well for Americans. She contended, “This is certainly a very misguided, dangerous decision which may be self-serving for Donald Trump and his supporters in the fossil fuel industry. It may be good for them for a little while, but is very bad for everyone in the long term.”

Stein said that the president is playing politics with the future well-being of the American people. She noted that the United States of America is a world leader, and to pull the country out of an agreement that is ratified and adopted by the world’s leading countries is a slap in the face to the American people and the credibility of this country. She commented, “Treaties are the law of the land and we know that some 70 percent of Americans, according to polls, support strong climate action. While it does not have the force of law due to it not being adopted by the United States Congress, it is more of an ethical and moral obligation, not only to the other nations of the world, but to future generations of children, and even children of America who are alive today, who will be severely impacted by this decision.”

According to Stein, Trump has created a climate emergency by his action of withdrawal and has also denied Americans jobs that would have directly resulted from the agreement. However, she noted that although he decided to pull out from the accord, there is still hope for the American people. She explained, “The silver lining here is that it is going to take him about four years in order to withdraw. So, by the time he actually withdraws, it will be time for new elections…so the impact of this decision remains to be seen because you can’t just walk away from this agreement—it takes years for you to do that.”

Stein believes that Trump has been making catastrophic decisions that will plunge the United States into a cesspool of bad relations internationally, creating a quagmire for the next administration and the country in general to recover from.

The Paris agreement was decided on at the 21st session of the conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was held in Paris from Nov. 30 through Dec. 13, 2015. The agreement was open for signature by the international community, including regional economic integration organizations, from April 2016 to April 2017 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Stein will be the Networking Luncheon guest speaker at the NACC Multicultural Business, Home Buyers & Health Expo Thursday, June 22, 2017, at the Sheraton Brooklyn New York Hotel. For more information, please visit www.businessexponyc.com.