The political turmoil of 2016 has caused widespread fear amongst us; myself included. Recently I have been obsessing whether we are on the verge of an instrumental shift in the political importance of Climate Change.
To say I've been concerned about the future of our planet since Brexit is an understatement.
Fracturing a powerful union that has been so significant in revolutionary scientific research and policy is a terrifying prospect. Since the vote, we have seen the abolishment of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, a strong push for fracking and a significant reduction in scientific research funding.
Then we add the election of Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States.
This poses an even greater threat to international efforts to combat climate change, with just some of his recent quotes including: "We're going to cancel the Paris Agreement"; "We're going to stop all payments of US tax dollars to UN global warming programs"; and "I want clean coal and we're going to have clean coal and we're going to have plenty of it. We're going to have great, clean coal".
So in response to my initial question... yes; I do believe we are on the verge of a global shift in the importance of climate change, both in political and public opinion. But not in the way I had originally expected.
And that is because it appears the world is ready to fight to ensure global Climate Action.
It is understandable that the science community, NGO's, the UNFCCC and many members of the public are fearful of the impact that Brexit and Trump's presidency will have on global efforts to combat climate change. But people are, however, ready to speak out to ensure the Paris Agreement is respected and that the climate change scepticism promoted by Trump, is not widely accepted.
For example, since his election, many world leaders have spoken out.
President Hollande warned Trump that he must respect the Paris Agreement; China have quashed Trump's ridiculous claim that Climate Change is a "hoax invented by the Chinese"; Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, has spoken directly to Trump about the urgency and importance of tackling climate change; and NASA scientists have stated that they will not stand for any interference with future climate research.
I am fully aware that the next four years have been made more difficult as a result of 2016's political events, however, I am now questioning whether Trump's uncontrollable, vehement and raucous environmental claims will be as detrimental as they first appear.
Thus far, all it has done is bring the issue of climate change back onto the global stage and straight into our media. Everyone loves to hate a pantomime villain and Trump has become a figurehead for many to loathe. This means all of his vociferous claims are projected straight onto the world stage and many that had little interest in lobbying for climate action have now become engaged.
Since the 9th November, new articles have been published daily about tackling climate change. Every day, another world leader is expressing the importance of continued collaborative effort in mitigating this global issue. Everyday, my friends and colleagues are on social media, sharing articles and expressing their disgust at Trump's nonsensical environmental claims.
So, yes there is an uphill struggle ahead and I am fully prepared for the additional effort now required to prevent us from moving backwards. But despite my initial despair, it appears people have been motivated- and actually, I now feel far less alone in the battle to mitigate climate change.
