Self-Styled Leaders and Climate Change Essay Example

Leaders exist all over the world. Lurking in the shadows and ready to prosper. Everyone has the potential to be a good leader. However, not everyone has the potential to be a great leader. Self-styled leaders such as the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, often claim that they can solve whatever crisis resides in their society. Nevertheless, the dangerous effects of their “heroic” leadership become increasingly apparent with every move they make. (Bryson and Crosby, 2017)

Climate change remains the biggest, most controversial, and most talked-over crisis on the face of the earth. Climate Change serves as a glaring ramification on the towering list of achievements made by humankind. However, the bare efforts, world leaders are taking to solve this crisis will lead to immense devastation. Regardless, some political leaders do not understand the true damage climate change has and will continue to inflict upon our lives. Back in 2012, former President Trump famously stated that climate change was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.” Donald Trump took the position during the campaign that he believed that climate change was a hoax (Gerrard, 2017). However, in the statement made by the former president during his presidency, his beliefs seemed to have changed hastily. Professor Gerrard from the University of Columbia argues that Donald Trump “doesn’t really understand what climate change is about.” Additionally, the executive director of Harvard's Environmental Law Program, Joseph Goffman, asserted that President Trump “believes nothing on climate change — he's a climate nihilist”. Knowing this, the safety of our future is in further jeopardy. By authorizing self-styled leaders to be in such high positions of power, we might not be able to solve this issue therefore will lead to great devastation.

Nonetheless, we have also discerned a change coming from world leaders who choose to step up. World leaders such as the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, and Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau have committed to cutting off vast numbers of emissions by 2030. President Obama (2016) has stated that “Climate change is perversely designed to be hard to solve politically.” Hence, the Presidential Climate Action Plan was created with the intention of cutting off domestic carbon emission, preparing the US for the impacts of climate change, and for working internationally in efforts to combat global climate change (Obama, 2013). However, these plans would soon be eliminated by former President Trump on the first day of his presidency.in addition to eliminating the Climate Action Plan, the former President furthermore signed an executive order to officially nullify the 44th President’s Clean Power Plan in order to revive the coal industry (2017). Professor Michael Gerrard (2017) on Donald Trump: “He also said that we should maximize the extraction and use of fossil fuels in the United States —President Trump is doing everything he can to undo the Obama legacy on climate change.”

We can clearly discern that world problems can be solved. If world leaders put their effort into solving these prominent world problems! If the leaders who we’re supposed to conform to are self-styled! These current world problems we are facing will never be resolved. And the longer we wait to solve these issues the more crises will appear. If this is how world leaders are dealing with catastrophes at this moment! Then by the time they realize how horrible our world crises are there won't be a world to save.