This post is a fact sheet for climate change. I wrote this post during Trump’s first term. I’m revising it and reposting today.
Donald Trump’s 2.0 administration shows no interest in dealing with climate change, other than sticking their heads in oil-rich sand. They also refuse to understand some elementary concepts of climate change. If they did, they would stand with most Americans. Americans believe climate change is as much a local problem as a global one.

For example, I’ve worked with middle and high school students who collaborated with theirs peers across the world. They know more about climate change, global warming, and air pollution than Trump has demonstrated.

From 1989 to 2002, thousands of secondary students investigated environmental problems facing the earth. Students monitored and analyzed important physical, geological, chemical and biological aspects of their environments. They explained the difference between air pollutants and greenhouse gases. They knew the science. Mr. Trump. I want to help you understand the science. Are you up to it?

Dear Mr. Trump: This post is a climate science fact sheet. It is especially designed for you and Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. In short, you’ll find information about air quality, the greenhouse effect, and the GTP Effect.

Air Quality

I’ve noticed that whenever you are asked about climate change, you instead talk about clean air and water. That’s important. But I think it’s your way of gaslighting the American people about climate change. You need to change that. Knowing the science will help.

In this section, I’ve prepared some charts. These should help you see what the air pollutants are. They will show how these pollutants are trending. You’ll also see how the quality of the air is measured. In particular, I suggest you be very specific when you talk about climate and weather. Show that you know the difference between air quality and how the greenhouse effect causes global warming.

You want to check this page on one of the Federal Government sites. This will help you discover how the Clean Air Act has helped us tackle air pollution. It all started in 1970, thanks to people like Rachel Carson and other environmental activists.

Air Pollutants

So, we start with the idea that air pollutants are both gases and particles. The burning of coal produces more pollution than other sources. Gas-burning cars and trucks have created higher air pollution levels in the cities. Pollutants can travel hundreds of miles in the air, so rural areas are also becoming polluted.

Here are the six pollutants that the EPA is responsible for monitoring. When you were in office the first time, you chipped away at the regulations. These regulations guarantee that the government is keeping our air clean. Now you are back again. I don’t think you have learned anything more about “clean air.” I expect you will have Administrator Zeldon deregulate as you last administrator did.

• Carbon monoxide
• Ozone
• Particulates
• Lead
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Sulfur dioxide

Standards of Air Quality

You can go to an EPA page of National Ambient Air Quality Standards. These air pollutants are listed above in chart form explaining the air quality standards.

You can find data on the EPA site. It shows how the EPA’s regulations have helped improve air quality. This is achieved by reducing the causes of air pollutants. Making more fuel efficient cars is a way to reduce air pollution. Banning gas fueled cars is a goal that will help reduce global warming. What do you think of this idea? Have you consulted with your BM*Elon Musk? You know he produces cars that don’t run on gas. He has a great need for battery production.

For example, ground level ozone is a gas made of three oxygen atoms (O3). Ozone levels in many major American cities reach harmful levels. Nearby suburban and rural areas also experience harmful levels, especially when temperatures start to rise in the summer. Unfortunately, the temperature of U.S. cities is on the rise, and this will only contribute to high ozone levels. Ground level, or bad ozone, can cause a variety of health problems for people of all ages. This is particularly true for those who suffer from asthma. It also affects those who spend a lot of time outside, at work, or playing in a school playground.

The Greenhouse Effect

You have said that climate change is a hoax. Many republicans think it’s a hoax. They will tell you that the science isn’t settled on climate change. But citizens in the United States do not believe that climate change is a hoax. Ask the people who live in Los Angeles County. They experienced fires that destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. Recovery will take years, if possible. It’s drier, hotter, and windier in the West. These conditions haven’t been seen in many years. These conditions are directly related to the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Temperature: It was hot as Hades this summer.

The earth is getting hotter. This decade has been the hottest on record. Whenever I hear you talk about forest fires, you make a bold statement. You claim that the forest floor needs to be cleaned & raked. You need to know that the scale of forests makes this impossible. Have you hiked recently in the mountains of California, Oregon or Washington? Kip Ault, Professor Emeritus at Lewis & Clark, is a fellow science educator. He cast light on your dilemma in a recent email. He said that in a forest management study, the scale of the forest, drying in California is vast. It is beyond the scope of what raking leaves can do to make forests safer.

Dr. Ault recommended that I look at the nature of soil moisture in the coming decades. Researchers Cook, Ault and , Smerdon report that climate change is expected to increase drought severity in the coming decades. The droughts will be worse and exceed even the driest centuries of the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Still, you hang on to the idea that raking the driest forests in decades will prevent forest fires. The forests in California and other western states are suffering from severe drought. The forest are dry. The floor of the forest has a massive floor of kindle material that will ignite with a slightest spark. You can’t rake all this up. It has been burning a record levels this year.

The Gases

So, what do greenhouse gases do? Greenhouse gases trap heat from the atmosphere. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases (like those from refrigerators). Greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere. They are non-condensable gases. They don’t condense, like water vapor. Since the industrial revolution, these gases have increased due to human activity.

You’ll want to include this in your talks about climate change. Water vapor is also a greenhouse gas. You know that temperature limits the amount of water vapor in the air. You work in a city that gets very humid in the summer. Sticky. If the air holds the highest amount of water vapor and the air cools, then clouds will form. The water vapor condenses at this point. What is interesting here is that increasing the non-condensable greenhouse gases (CO2, etc) will raise the temperature of the atmosphere. If the atmosphere’s temperature rises, water vapor in the air will increase.

Take a look at the graph in Figure 1. It plots the yearly temperatures from 1880. It’s increasing, isn’t it. If things continue as they are now, the slope of the line will continue upwards. It will get hotter in the decades beyond our life spans.

Global Warming

The Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA ruled that the EPA must consider global warming and greenhouse gases in their measurement of air quality. Climate change and global warming are on the books. You need to bring yourselves up-to-date. Your standing with the American public would improve. Acknowledging that the climate is changing and the earth is getting hotter would help. Most Americans think the Federal government should do more to tackle the problem of climate change. And, this includes Republicans as well as Democrats. It’s really not a partisan issue.

The gas that is the leading cause of global warming is carbon dioxide. Since the industrial revolution began, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased. You should know that CO2 has increased principally through burning fossil fuels. These include coal, natural gas, and oil. It also rises from solid waste and trees, especially during wildfires. You also know that CO2 is removed from the air when it is absorbed by plants.

Here are two graphs that you may find useful. The first shows indirect measurements inferred from ice cores (as far back as 800 AD) as well as direct measurements in more recent times. The second graph shows the monthly measurements of CO2 from the Mauna Loa Observatory. In each graph, the CO2 level has increased and is now more than 414 parts per million (ppm).

Effects

Greenhouse gases are also responsible for warming oceans. They cause shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreat, and decreased snow cover. These gases lead to a rise in sea level and the decline of Arctic sea ice. They also contribute to extreme events like heat, cold, and rain. Additionally, greenhouse gases cause ocean acidification.

You keep a collection of photos showing some of these effects. Here are a few you can copy.

The GTP Effect

The GTP Effect happens when teens are trusted and listened to about their ideas of the natural environment. The Global Thinking Project Effect emerged from a hands-across the globe environmental science Internet-based program from the early 1990s- 2002. The GTP Effect encouraged collaboration among students from different nations. Here is the story of the GTP effect.

From 1983 – 2002, a project rooted in citizen science began. It involved youth activism and global collaboration. This project emerged and developed into the Global Thinking Project (GTP), a hands-across-the-globe program. It transformed into an environmental education program. This program is based on “education for the environment.” It embodies the principles of Deep Ecology (library copy).

The Global Thinking Project taught students to think globally, and act locally. Students in the project monitored ground level ozone in their neighborhood. They shared their findings with their classroom peers. They also discussed these findings. They also posted their data on the GTP Website for other students to use in their analysis of ground-level ozone. Students also investigated the quality of water in a local stream. They studied how green their classroom was. They examined solid waste and soil.

You can learn about clean air, clean water, and global warming from students who participated in the GTP. In one study, we concluded that the GTP Effect promotes global thinking. This thinking is necessary to assume planetary stewardship.

It is unfortunate, Mr. Trump that you don’t see any value in listening to others in the medical or the scientific professions. You should listen to them, and involve them in all of our decisions. You can also reach out to middle and high school science teachers. They understand the climate crisis that students in their classrooms face.

Conclusion

Mr. Trump, even though some Americans elected you, they are much more intelligent than you think. In fact, from my experience as director of the GTP, I see that teenagers know a lot more about science. The research done by my colleagues supports this. They know more specifically about climate change. Don’t try and pull the wool over their eyes.

This fact sheet for climate change was written to advance Donald Trump’s knowledge of climate change, tongue in cheek. He has rejected scientific and medical research, ,researchers and doctors. During his watch, science and medical denial flourished. Two major journals of medicine and science have urged people to vote these two out of office. They made this decision because of the failed handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has consistently refused to accept the science of climate change and global warming. 

Notes

*Big Mouth