The environment makes poor business sense. This seems to be the bedrock of the philosophy propounded by the president of the United States of America. What else can explain Donald Trump's repeated attempts to weaken institutions that seek to safeguard what is left of threatened ecosystems around the world. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has been seriously compromised under Mr Trump's watch, has sought to make public a controversial proposal that would make it easier for energy firms to release methane into the atmosphere. Methane, incidentally, is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Oil and gas wells are the major sources of this pollutant. Little wonder then that move has been hailed by industrial lobbies that, undoubtedly, share their president's apathy for the health of the planet. Shockingly, this is the third instance of Mr Trump and his administration diluting federal provisions that have been designed to battle climate change. In the two earlier instances, the EPA had sought to undermine curbs against carbon dioxide pollution from vehicular tailpipes and coal-fired power plants.
Dismantling the EPA altogether would have been too dramatic even for a president who is known for his love for the theatrical. Mr Trump has thus decided to chip away at critical institutions that effectively functioned as common ground between the government and the fraternity of environmentalists. Mr Trump's disregard for environmental issues could, in the long run, also adversely affect the assistance that weaker economies receive from the US as they go about adapting to the stiff challenges brought about by erratic weather conditions. What is at stake is not merely the US's international commitments regarding climate change. Mr Trump could well inspire leaderships in other countries to abort environmental safeguards. The key to confronting such foolhardiness would be to integrate the environmental question into the political discourse and resolve the seemingly intractable relationship between business and environment.
