Environmental/Government News #1: 3/4/25

    As I write this blog, I intend to stay as neutral on various topics as possible, only viewing them in the lens of environmental science. This is especially true when I discuss the topic of politics. As some of you may know, the United States recently inaugurated the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump. I assume most of you have heard his name echo through the news channels and social media. I like to think I keep up with the news, whether that be through the NYT or TikTok or Instagram. I hear all about Trump's new executive order or his new plan for the economy, so I thought: what is Trump doing in terms of the environment. So: I did a little research.
    
    As of February 10th, 2025, a little under a month ago, President Trump signed an executive order that immediately bans paper straws from being used in Federal buildings, and "requires the development of a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws within 45 days", effectively moving towards a nationwide ban. The rationale, according to the official white house page, is because of PFAs(forever chemicals) in paper straws, the price of paper straws, and finally that "studies have shown that producing paper straws can have a larger carbon footprint". Others argue that paper straws are obviously better than plastic due to their faster decomposition process. I can see both sides of the argument. On one hand, the process of making paper straws takes far longer than their plastic counterpart, but overall, paper can feel more guilt-free for consumers. Me personally, I never really minded paper straws. Sure, it's a little annoying when they get all floppy in a Diet Coke after 30 minutes, but I don't mind it.


    In terms of international efforts, Trump signed an official order withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement was an international treaty that aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming. Almost all countries in the world signed the agreement, but now the United States is pulling out of it under Donald Trump's orders. Trump argues that the United States is wasting its money, putting in unproportional amounts compared to other countries. Looking at this purely from the lens of the environment, this decision seems bad. With all the natural problems we are facing currently: wildfires, droughts, heat waves, rising sea levels, its apparent that something needs to be done, and pulling out of an agreement to try and combat this ultimately seems like a bad decision. 

This was a few of my thoughts on some political things going on in the United States right now. 

Oh yeah, at the end of every post, I've decided to share a fact about the environment.
\
Today's fact: Coral reefs provide almost half of the world's oxygen through photosynthesis. 




Until next time,

Oscar













Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-ends-the-procurement-and-forced-use-of-paper-straws/

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231103-plastic-or-paper-the-truth-about-drinking-straws

https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/president-trump-announces-withdrawal-paris-agreement-0

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