On Thursday night, the entire left side of the aisle melted down over President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. Although there was tough competition, California Governor Jerry Brown earned a spot among the most extreme public reactions to the news: “People will die!” he screeched.
“My immediate reaction is this is a crazy decision,” he said live on-air. “It is against the facts. It is against science. It is against reality itself. We know we have to de-carbonize our future.”
Brown then turned up the hyperbole to tell us the repercussions of pulling out of the deal: “If we don’t, it is a horror. People will die! Habitats will be destroyed. Seas will rise. Insects will spread in areas they never have before. This is not a game. It is not politics to talk to your base. It is humanity and whether it makes it through the 21st century.”
A very measured approach.
The governor added that his state “will stay the course,” along with New York and Washington. As noted in POLITICO, “the governors of California, Washington and New York have agreed to form an alliance aimed at meeting the U.S. climate goals.”
“Today the White House announced the United States will withdraw from the Paris Accord, a global agreement between more than 190 countries meant to protect our climate. This reckless decision has devastating repercussions not only for the United States, but for our planet,” read the release from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“We in New York remain committed to meeting the standards set forth in the Paris Accord regardless of Washington’s actions,” it continued. “That’s why today, along with California Governor Edmund G. Brown and Washington Governor Jay R. Inslee, I am forming the United States Climate Alliance, a coalition that will convene U.S. states committed to taking aggressive action on climate change.”
“The three states make up about a fifth of U.S. population and GDP,” notes POLITICO. “They also produced 11 percent of U.S. emissions in 2014, according to the Energy Information Administration.”
“If the President is going to be AWOL in this profoundly important human endeavor, then California and other states will step up,” said Brown in a statement on the coalition.
WATCH:
For more hysterical reactions, click here.
