America has erupted in revolt against President Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Several states, cities, corporations, and prominent celebrity citizens are defiantly asserting that they intend to stand by U.S commitment to the accord.
From New York to California, from legacy corporations such as General Electric and Exxon-Mobil to newbies like Facebook and Google, from academics and illuminati to people on the streets, the country is in a state of ferment and rebellion against a businessman president whose decision to withdraw the U.S from the globally-endorsed climate change has barely found a ripple of support even from his narrow constituency of traditional manufacturers and the coal lobby.
The liberal bastions of New York and California are leading the way in defying Trump, virtually seceding from heartland America at least in the environmental sphere.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed that prominent landmarks, including One World Trade Center and the Kosciuszko Bridge to be lit green in a symbolic show of solidarity with the Paris Accord, but his California counterpart Jerry Brown went further, saying the Golden State -- whose economy accounts for a third of the U.S pie -- would seek its own climate change pact with China.
The most humiliating rebuff to the U.S President came from the city of Pittsburgh, which Trump referred to while making the case for ditching the climate change accord saying he was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris. The city's Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto pointed out that Pittsburgh voted 80 per cent for Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election, and pledged that the city would abide by the guidelines of the Paris treaty.
Trump was also rebuffed by prominent entrepreneurs and businessmen who would have been expected to back one of their own ilk.
Tesla's iconic founder Elon Musk carried through his threat to quit the President's business advisory council if Trump withdrew from the Paris Accord, as did Disney's Robert Iger. IBM's Ginni Rometty and Intel's Brian Krzanich stayed on despite opposing the withdrawal
On the political front, Presidential challenger Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, who clinched the Paris deal and counts it as his legacy, wasted no time excoriating Trump.
''The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack,'' Obama said in a statement minutes after Trump announced the pullout, adding, ''even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I'm confident 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.''
From New York to California, from legacy corporations such as General Electric and Exxon-Mobil to newbies like Facebook and Google, from academics and illuminati to people on the streets, the country is in a state of ferment and rebellion against a businessman president whose decision to withdraw the U.S from the globally-endorsed climate change has barely found a ripple of support even from his narrow constituency of traditional manufacturers and the coal lobby.
The liberal bastions of New York and California are leading the way in defying Trump, virtually seceding from heartland America at least in the environmental sphere.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed that prominent landmarks, including One World Trade Center and the Kosciuszko Bridge to be lit green in a symbolic show of solidarity with the Paris Accord, but his California counterpart Jerry Brown went further, saying the Golden State -- whose economy accounts for a third of the U.S pie -- would seek its own climate change pact with China.
The most humiliating rebuff to the U.S President came from the city of Pittsburgh, which Trump referred to while making the case for ditching the climate change accord saying he was elected to represent Pittsburgh, not Paris. The city's Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto pointed out that Pittsburgh voted 80 per cent for Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election, and pledged that the city would abide by the guidelines of the Paris treaty.
Trump was also rebuffed by prominent entrepreneurs and businessmen who would have been expected to back one of their own ilk.
Tesla's iconic founder Elon Musk carried through his threat to quit the President's business advisory council if Trump withdrew from the Paris Accord, as did Disney's Robert Iger. IBM's Ginni Rometty and Intel's Brian Krzanich stayed on despite opposing the withdrawal
On the political front, Presidential challenger Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, who clinched the Paris deal and counts it as his legacy, wasted no time excoriating Trump.
''The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack,'' Obama said in a statement minutes after Trump announced the pullout, adding, ''even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I'm confident 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.''
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