Donald Trump, having been president of the United States for less than six months, in 2017 vowed to enact withdrawal from the Paris climate accord. The U.N. received official notification Monday of this ill-conceived decision, which will take effect in one year, the day after the 2020 presidential election.

Democratic candidates for federal office, including the presidency, should drop espousing controversial issues like upending our health care system to enact “Medicare for All” and instead make climate change the principal issue of 2020. Rising temperatures in our oceans, ice shelf melting, rising sea levels and damaging effects on all inhabitants of our planet are far more immediate problems.

And, the day after the election, the new Democratic president can keep us in the accord and stop Trump’s misguided efforts to ignore climate science.

Thereafter, we can address needed improvements to our health care system.

Peter K. Shaw, M.D.

Falmouth

Related Headlines

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or to participate in the conversation. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under:
letter to the editor
Related Stories
Latest Articles