Question: How do you feel about Donald trump saying that there is ‘no such thing as climate change’.

John Paterson answered on 17 Jun 2019:

I think that Donald Trump is quite ignorant when it comes to science and probably ignores a lot science that proves things he doesn’t like! There is plenty of evidence that supports climate change and recently research was done to show that 97% of climate scientists think that climate change is a proven fact and that human pollution is responsible for it. I would like to think that people and politicians can always be convinced by scientific evidence, but as Donald Trump shows the real world is more complicated than that. I think he doesn’t want to believe in climate change because to work to stop climate change it would mean big changes to business in the USA, which is one of the biggest polluters in the world. Trump is worried that if he changes things to do with business it might put people out of jobs, lose the USA money and lose him voters. I think part of the discussion around climate change is to convince people like Trump that coming up with solutions to climate change can also be good for jobs and the economy by investing in new, green technology. This is something other politicians in the USA have tried to talk about in a new idea called the ‘Green New Deal’ which will invest money in new jobs and technology to fight climate change.