The Philippines successfully concluded a Tripartite Conference to define an inclusive roadmap to the Paris Accord as a framework to the transition to a climate economy initiated by civil society in partnership with the Philippine government and the international community.
In a stark contrast, Donald Trump, President of the United States, officially declared withdrawal from the Paris Accord casting away several decades of well informed debates.
According to former Senator Heherson T. Alvarez, convenor of the conference, “Trump is an isolated negative force for destruction which does not represent the interest of the American people, much less of humanity.”
“Peoples and leaders of the world have derided and expressed dismay on Trump’s intransigence in the governance to save the earth,” he said.
Within America, an alliance of communities and governors, including the two largest, California and New York, which represent 20% of the GDP of the US, have converged in disgust to defy Tump’s naysaying stand claiming it as uninformed and regressive. They pledged to carry on with the task of mitigation and adaptation.
“Trump’s stand has not diminished the strength of the global movement to save the earth. It has, in fact, solidified and clarified the direction of the movement,” the former Senator added.
Alvarez, chair of the Climate Institute Advisory Board and founder of Earthsavers UNESCO Dream Center said that climate change can be managed. It is doable by deploying more of the capacity and technology for alternative energy which we have in abundance in our country: wind, solar radiance, geothermal, waste management and other clean sources.
What can be noted, according to Alvarez is the difference between Trump and Duterte. Trump could not be budged to change his mind despite the harvest of the great science from American institutions. On the other hand, Duterte kept an open mind and finally acceded to the Paris deal of securing the survival of mankind and caring for God’s creation.