On Tuesday, November 5th, 2024, dozens of news headlines flashed the update: Donald Trump is the 47th president of the United States of America.
Half of the country was left disappointed, fearful, and powerless in the wake of these election results, while a much larger half triumphed over this long-awaited win. However, one thought is constant among this year’s voter base: the 2024 election marks one of the most defining moments for the future of the country.
Coming up on his second term, Trump occupying the Oval Office in 2025 means a lot of things for this country. Some new things, some old things, some reinstated things, some eradicated things. But the question is left hanging: what does this mean for the environment? Through policies, the economy, jobs, land management, and global climate leadership, our natural environment as we know it is bound to experience change in the next four years.
With upcoming policy shifts, it’s important to note that environmental policies frequently involve trade-offs where different stakeholders prioritize different outcomes. This is observed when revisiting Trump’s environmental agenda during his first term. On November 4th, 2019, The Department of State announced the beginnings of the withdrawal from The Paris Agreement, an international treaty that aimed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Trump cited the decision to pull out of this treaty as the economic burden it posed for Americans. The Agreement was subsequently rejoined under Joe Biden’s presidency. On June 19th, 2019, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency repealed former president Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, once again, “due to concerns about the ‘unnecessary, costly burdens’ it may impose on electric utilities.”
While some right-wing governments are in favor of progressive climate action, in Trump’s second time around, he is predicted to reverse many more climate initiatives. A New York Times article states that “research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, and other sources, counts nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump. More than a dozen other potential rollbacks remained in progress by the end but were not finalized by the end of the administration’s term.”
One of these rollbacks: fossil fuel initiatives. “Trump’s goal in a second term will be to boost fossil-fuel production, his campaign has said” states Michael Copley, an NPR climate desk correspondent. Trump has strongly advocated for the economic potential of fossil fuels, which he refers to as “liquid gold”, highlighting their role in energy independence and job creation. “We have more liquid gold than any country in the world. More than Saudi Arabia. We have more than Russia,” Trump states with rallying pride. But Trump’s looming love for fossil fuels is jeopardizing, threatening to undermine conscious, positive, and ongoing efforts to transition to renewable energy and combat climate change.
A positive of Trump's affinity for the fossil fuel industry is the creation of many new job opportunities within that industry, a sector that suffered during Biden’s presidency. A negative of Trump’s love for fossil fuels is the threatened eradication of existing jobs in the clean energy industry, stunting the industry’s progress while it’s still in its infancy. An interview with two anonymous yet accredited federal environmental agency employees provides insight on this topic from a firsthand perspective. When asked “How do you think Trump’s environmental policies will affect job creation in both traditional energy sectors and emerging green industries?” they respond stating that it may close doors on the federal level but will open opportunities on state and local levels. “This is where states have a role to fight back,” they urged.
They both clarified that federal departments could very well take back powers granted to the states by refusing to support and fund them anymore. For the past four years, under Biden’s presidency, the career field of environmentalism has been growing exponentially, giving this generation’s students the confidence to pursue environmentally-related degrees. But come Trump’s January 20, 2025 inauguration, students are concerned their futures have hit a wall. However, the conversations with federal employees show some hope for the future of environmental careers. If you are looking for environmental work at the federal level, you may be out of luck, but plenty of opportunities still await at the state and local levels!
Public land management under Trump’s presidency is another topic that’s garnered American interest. Currently, the United States government owns and manages about 28% of the country’s land. For context, “federal land policies govern the conservation of national parks, national forests, and forest reserves, recreation at national parks, oil and natural gas development, mineral extraction, wildlife and forest management, and grazing.” And when revisiting Trump’s quote on “liquid gold” we can conclude that there will be an expansion of oil, natural gas development, and mineral extraction.
While creating a booming and blooming economic industry, the expansion of drilling, mining, and logging on federally protected lands raises risks for biodiversity and health impacts. When asking the federal environmental agency employees if they foresee a continuation or expansion of the Trump administration’s efforts to open public lands to resource extraction, the source only had a one-word answer, “Yes.” A long pause ensued, seemingly telling all.
In the past week, Trump announced that he has selected Chris Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy as the next secretary of energy. If Wright occupies this role, he is “likely to promote fossil fuel development and reverse many Biden-era initiatives.” Wright openly denies the “climate crisis” as well as claiming that “we're not in the midst of an energy transition either.” “The cabinet is a chess piece” states one of the federal environmental agency employees. Trump’s selection of cabinet members like Wright is an accurate foresight as to his future execution as president. All three branches of the government have now swung majority conservative, with legislation and regulation to follow suit. The World Resource Institution backs this prediction: “conservative appointments will almost certainly stall or reverse climate progress by having more judges who rule in favor of polluters in lawsuits that dismantle regulations and legislation that limit emissions.”
The Trump administration’s environmental policy destruction will have long-term global impacts. “While policies like the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide a foundation for progress, the absence of new federal policies will widen the gap between U.S. climate goals and its actual emissions trajectory” adds the WRI. The United States of America is undeniably on the podium for the most greenhouse gas emissions per country. Contrarily, we have also historically been involved in greenhouse gas reduction efforts on a global scale. Trump’s presidency threatens the latter efforts. The World Resources Institute further explains that “Trump has promised to ‘rescind all unspent funds’ under the Inflation Reduction Act. While nearly 90% of such funds have been spent, this still leaves billions on the table. Such reallocation would undermine clean energy investments and delay emissions reductions in key sectors like electricity generation and transportation.” The federal environmental agency employees elaborated that “there has been a huge amount of IRA funding that has gone towards building new things and environmental clean up. That money is out the door thankfully so it has already been applied towards certain projects.” Taxpayer money is allocated to carry out such projects but it’s a long process for the money to reach the necessary hands. If Trump’s new administration decides to cut or greatly reduce these funds, a lot of in-progress work under the IRA will stop.
Just like the environment, everything is connected. No one is exempt from these (among other) proposed changes. Donald Trump’s second term is quickly approaching the country, with an environmental agenda that presents opportunities and challenges. How the nation navigates these changes will shape the future of energy, the economy, and our role on the global stage. This leaves a looming question: with an impending new era for climate change, will you passively accept it or fight it?
