With the recent election of Donald Trump as president of the United States of America, the world is watching for what type of America we are now going to be in 2017. This is the case on so many levels, from international relations to humanitarianism, but none more so than in connection with efforts to save the planet. Our outgoing president, Barack Obama, has left a positive legacy in terms of advancing environmentalism and the path towards a global sustainable society. Donald Trump, however, is a climate change denier, and he has other priorities. In this report, I will review some of Obama's accomplishments, and compare those with some of Trump's campaign statements and recent actions.

     During his two terms in office, President Obama has had a positive impact in his efforts to preserve our planet for future generations. He was instrumental in negotiating a climate change agreement with China and in having the United States sign the Paris Climate Change Treaty, which was ratified in 2016. He implemented tough environmental regulations while in office, including the Clean Power Plan, which is being fought by the fossil fuel companies. Obama has dedicated large tracts of land and sea to wildlife preservation. Most recently, in a joint effort with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Obama has permanently protected nearly the entire Arctic Ocean and part of the Atlantic Ocean as a nature preserve. This puts almost 120 million acres of ocean waters off-limits to oil exploration and drilling.

     Now the question is whether Obama's environmental legacy will be undone by Donald Trump, because of Trump's hostility to internationalism and his focus on enabling big business. Trump has indicated that he is mostly not interested in international treaties and cooperation, unless it benefits his "America First" philosophy. In his April, 27, 2016 Foreign Policy Speech he stated, "America First will be the major and overriding theme of my administration".  He followed this up in his July 21, 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention, in which he asserted, "America first. Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo".

     More specifically, in his March 21, 2016 speech at AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he said, "The United Nations is not a friend of democracy, it's not a friend to freedom, it's not a friend even to the United States of America". He followed this up recently, after being elected president of the United States, by tweeting on December 26, 2016, "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"

     Even more troubling, Trump has aligned himself with the global oil companies and the climate change deniers. In his April 27, 2016 Foreign Policy Speech, he downplayed the problem of global warming: "Our military is depleted, and we're asking our generals and military leaders to worry about global warming". In an interview with the Washington Post on March 22, 2016, he said "I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. I'm not a great believer." In fact, over numerous years, he has consistently denied climate change. For example, on January 26, 2014, he tweeted, "This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullsh** has got to stop." On November 6, 2012 he tweeted, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." During the presidential campaign, Trump promised to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, and to end US support to UN programs aimed at fighting climate change.

     In his actions so far, even before he has taken office, Trump has shown his hostility to environmental issues and his affinity for big oil interests. According to the Sierra Club, "If Trump gets his way, climate deniers like Scott Pruitt will be EPA Administrator and Rick Perry will be Energy Secretary in other words, we're looking at a full-scale attack on climate science." Furthermore, Trump's choice for Secretary of State, the USA's top diplomat to the world, is Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobile. In other words, someone whose priorities have been promoting the big oil agenda around the world will now take this mindset to representing the USA around the world. Also, one of Trump's top transition advisors, Bob Walker, has said that Trump's administration plans to eliminate all climate change research conducted by NASA, calling it "politicized science".  

     The concern about Donald Trump is so great among environmentalists that States like California are planning to fight Trump through their own environmental agendas. In December, California Governor Jerry Brown said, "We will protect the precious rights of our people and continue to confront the existential threat of our time — devastating climate change". California is one of the world's largest economies, and through its own regulation, it has a major effect on environmental matters.

     President Obama will go down in history as an outstanding environmental president. Even with a Republican Congress against him, he was able to get things done to protect the planet by being a strong chief executive of the federal government. Right now, we wait to see what kind of president Donald Trump will be, and how environmentalists will respond. Nothing short of the fate of the planet is at stake.