Opinion Piece: Trump’s Election Should Act as a Call to Action 

Written By The Zero Waste Teen

On January 20th, 2025, Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, this being his second term since his previous term from 2017 to 2021. Since his first day in office, Trump’s position against climate change has been clear: one of his first executive orders was to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and he claimed his priority was to “drill, baby, drill”. These actions are in line with his political orientation in the previous term, when he also took a stance against climate change. With the effects of climate change becoming more evident year after year, what does a Trump presidency mean for the climate? 



 The Paris Agreement: Why is it so important? 

The Paris Agreement is an international treaty signed by 195 parties, which include 194 countries and the European Union as its 195th member. This agreement is one of the most important international agreements on climate change: by signing, countries that adhere express their will to actively contribute to tackling the climate crisis. When countries ratify the Agreement, they’re also agreeing to help reach the goals stated in the treaty. These include: “substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels… periodically assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this agreement and its long-term goals… [and] provide financing to developing countries to mitigate climate change, strengthen resilience and enhance abilities to adapt to climate impacts” (European Council). 

Pulling out of this Agreement means that the U.S. no longer intends to pursue these climate goals. This marks a definite stepback for climate action on an international scale, since the U.S. is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and has “produced more cumulative carbon dioxide (CO₂) than any other nation to date”. For this reason, the United States is also considered the “largest contributor to human-caused climate change” (Statista, 2024), and the choice to neglect responsibility is worrisome. 

The need for action!

In 2024, “the monthly global average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for 11 months of the year. Going back further, all months since July 2023, except for July 2024, have exceeded the 1.5°C level” of increase in temperatures (Climate Copernicus, 2025). 

This data is concerning, as a 1.5 C increase is considered the safer threshold for the increase in temperatures, and climate change consequences can be mitigated more effectively at this limit-temperature. “In a 1.5C world, many of the deadliest effects of climate change are reduced. Sea level rise is expected to be around 10cm (4in) lower at 1.5C compared with 2C. However, irreversible melting of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica could be triggered between 1.5C and 2C, meaning that sea levels would continue to rise well beyond 2100. But it would happen more slowly at 1.5C than 2C, buying time for communities to adapt.” (BBC, 2024). 


Does Trump really have the last say? 

With recent years, the need for action has become increasingly evident. In this reduced time-frame, can Trump’s actions set the world back? While It’s true that pulling out of the Paris Agreement is an especially harmful decision, it’s happened before. In 2017, when Trump first pulled out of the Agreement, it was feared that many nations worldwide would follow in the United States’ footsteps. This never happened, and while it’s demotivating to see a nation that contributes so much to climate change ignore its impacts, it doesn’t necessarily set the precedent for other nations. 

Furthermore, Trump’s intentions in the U.S. energy sector do not depend exclusively on him. As soon as Trump stepped into office, the new Administration declared its intention to produce more oil and drastically cut down oil prices. With a drastic cut in oil prices, consumers would definitely be favored in choosing oil as an energy source, a concerning incentive. However, Trump doesn’t have the ability to cut on oil prices like he claims. Because oil is a resource managed by the private sector, decisions on oil price ultimately depend on private companies and the global oil market, not on the President of the United States. The only action that the Administration can take is to facilitate companies in having access to oil reserves on federal land and deregulate oil extraction. This is definitely a step in the wrong direction, but it’s only limited to providing opportunities for companies -opportunities that they’re not obliged to take. 


The lack of interest in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve’s (ANWR) oil resources demonstrate the U.S. Government’s limits. Recent sales of federal ground leases in this area showed a lack of interest from companies. The area, due to “costly logistical challenges… intense permitting requirements and… opposition from environmental groups…led energy companies to forfeit drilling rights in U.S. Arctic waters north of Alaska, despite the potentially 27-billion-barrel bounty” (A. Dlouhy, 2025). Because of the increasing awareness and efforts, especially from Native American communities and environmental groups, to protect land where many oil reserves lay, drilling for oil in certain territories in the United States is now facing more resistance. 



While the election of Donald Trump, the new President of the United States, constitutes a definite setback to climate action on an international and national scale, not all hope is lost. Growing climate awareness in recent years is no longer dismissable, and climate change still represents a growing theme in political and economic conversations. Trump’s election is a reminder that, despite the climate being placed more than ever at the center of conversations, efforts aren’t enough, and we need to keep pushing for climate change action on a systemic level. Trump’s election should serve as a call to action: we all need to focus on raising awareness about the crisis, placing a systemic approach to global warming at the center of conversations, and finding ways to peacefully express the need for action to our political institutions. When issues become so evident that entire nations are pushing for change, governments and companies can no longer ignore demands. Together, we have the power to influence institutions and push for change, so let’s use this election as fuel for our demands. 

Written and contributed to by: Beatrice Bos 

The Zero Waste Teen
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