President Donald Trump and the environment have never seen each other eye to eye.
Donald Trump does not believe in climate change and believes it to be a scam in order to create panic and stop developed nations from drilling. This is why, as soon as he joined office on January 20 for his second term, he pulled out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and made his views on drilling for oil very clear.
In his series of executive orders, he recently signed one ending the purchase and compulsory usage of paper straws. Donald Trump’s directive reverses the goal set by his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, to ban single-use plastic straws and other utensils in all government agencies by 2035.
“We’re going back to plastic straws.” –President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/GONNjP6UNn
— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) February 10, 2025
Donald Trump seemed very disdainful of paper straws and made his feelings regarding them very clear. He said that paper straws are ineffective. He had them a lot, and sometimes they explode or shatter. The president persisted in complaining that paper straws “don’t last very long,” particularly when used to sip hot beverages. “It’s an absurd circumstance.”
While he is seemingly correct about straws “exploding,” he apparently confuses turtles with sharks.
He added that he doesn’t think sharks are going to mind as they happily munch through the ocean.
Scientists have long argued about the effects of plastic on marine life. Too much plastic in our oceans will disturb the natural balance and affect the productivity of ocean life, which in turn will affect humans. To make their points hit home, marine biologists often talked about turtles getting caught in plastic straws.
“I don’t think that plastic’s going to affect a shark very much … as they’re munching their way through the ocean.”
President Trump signs an executive order directing the government to start using plastic straws again, adding that paper straws “don’t work.” pic.twitter.com/RgifMvfWnU
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 11, 2025
However, the president Donald Trump is an ever-the-climate-change denier. Not only does he not believe in the increase in ocean temperatures, but he does not think marine life will be affected by too much plastic in our ecosystem.
He frequently asserted that scientists had changed the name of global warming to climate change because “the name global warming wasn’t working” (both names are used, but NASA specialists have suggested that climate change is the more scientifically correct phrase than global warming).
Even though the World Meteorological Organization claims that the last 22 years have seen the 20 warmest years on record, he has dozens of tweets arguing that cold weather refutes climate change.
Trump just rejected his own administration’s warning about the economic consequences of climate change: “I don’t believe it. No – no, I don’t believe it.” pic.twitter.com/LCHzQUDrkf
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) November 26, 2018
Trump, a “climate skeptic,” has pledged to reduce former President Joe Biden’s expenditures on the “green economy” and promote the production of fossil fuels. This is a matter of worry among several nations. If the most powerful country in the world and the biggest producer of greenhouse gases denies their effects, it may derail the whole process of curbing climate change.
The Guardian goes on to say that Donald Trump’s possible influence on global climate action presents a “severe threat to the planet.” According to BBC News, Trump’s “likely actions in office this time could be far more significant” than his first term, even though the environment was not a prominent campaign issue.
