By RTCC staff
Donald Trump might be the best thing that ever happened to the climate change debate.
His scientifically-based tweets, rational arguments against renewables and ability to reach out to all sides in an increasingly polarised debate are a refreshing change from the usual discourse in this sector.
But last night, Trump really let himself down.
On the eve of the US Presidential election he took to twitter to blame global warming on China, a country he is not especially fond of, if his comments over the past year are anything to go by.
Unusually, he’s off the mark on this one.
Trump wasn’t to know that the first scientist to write about the ‘greenhouse effect’ was French physicist Joseph Fourier in 1824; followed by Irish physicist John Tyndall in 1861.
China has been credited with many inventions – notably paper, gunpowder, printing and the compass – but climate change isn’t one of them. The country is the world’s largest source of carbon emissions – responsible for about one-quarter of global emissions – but it has not made up the phenomenon.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good tweet?
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
I think if you popped Donald Trump this morning, you’d need to plant a thousand trees to offset the stink & guff.
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) November 7, 2012