When I first read that Trump was proposing to ease restrictions on the release of methane gas, I was shocked.
Because methane is seen as so much more dangerous for global warming than carbon dioxide, supporting that increase seemed like it is intentional support for global warming. Seen in the context of Trump’s various actions ranging from efforts to ease emission requirements for new automobiles, support for increased use of coal and other fossil fuels, this seems like a crime.
What kind of crime? A crime against all of us. A crime against humanity. There is a definition for that. “acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population.”
Everyone affected by the climate emergency. Trumps acts are deliberate and systematic. They qualify. They even have a purpose. Trump believes he can take advantage of the climate crisis. Here’s a case in point: his proposal to purchase Greenland. His intention is to exploit Greenland’s resources, easier to access now and in the future because Greenland will be warmer.
Is this methane proposal the right place to start? The US is not the principal offender regarding methane. China is. Brazil and India compete with the US for second place. Furthermore, the biggest problem is not industrial, but wetlands and agriculture (cow belches).
We’ll find a way to focus on Trump’s climate crime against humanity. But not with methane. Trump’s methane proposal is just a bad proposal; a bad proposal which is a small part of his larger crime.