During Monday’s newscast, CBS Evening News was irritated by President Trump’s position on climate change and how he was putting America at odds with the rest of the world. “At a U.N. climate conference in Germany today, the Trump administration talked up fossil fuels, including coal,” chided temporary anchor Anthony Mason. “That puts the U.S. at odds with 194 other nations, but some American entrepreneurs and politicians want to make sure the administration does not have the final word.”
As the show's producers cut to the report by Mark Phillips, they played a clip of a staged “protest” by little kids where they chanted “Save the world! Save the World!” “Despite the kids' demonstration, saving the world has been harder since the Trump administration announced its pullout from the Paris climate deal,” Phillips complained.
Although the Trump administration didn’t send a delegation that wanted to submit to crippling America with burdensome climate change initiatives, Phillips praised the unofficial group that claimed to speak for the country. “There is an enthusiastic American delegation at this U.N. conference, but Washington didn't send it. State and city governments and businessmen like Michael Bloomberg did,” he touted.
“Washington has other ideas. Its main pitch here is to promote coal, which much of the world sees as exactly the wrong way to reduce greenhouse gasses that cause global warming,” Phillips bemoaned. But there was cause for him to celebrate:
The leaders of this alternative delegation, like California Governor Jerry Brown, say: ‘Ignore Washington, listen to us.’
(…)
And the 14 states who have come here say the U.S. can still reduce carbon output by a quarter over the next eight years as promised, partly because clean energy projects are also happening in some unlikely places.
Phillips interviewed a man who sold wind turbines to farms to help reduce their energy cost. The CBS reporter hyped him as though he was out to undercut President Trump: “Russell Tenser of United Wind told a tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, that he actually sells most of his wind turbines in red states that voted Trump.” But as Tenser explained, it was about having the farmers exploit a readily available resource.
The difference between having the government force green energy compliance on citizens and people freely choosing their energy sources went completely over the head of Phillips and CBS.
“The argument being heard at conferences like this is that, well, it would be nice to have the support of the administration in Washington in fighting climate change, that support is not essential,” Phillips quipped as he wrapped up his report. For what seemed to be meant as a swipe at the President, it actually helped make the argument against tying the U.S. up in such agreements.
CBS's anti-Trump lamenting was sponsored by Liberty Mutual, Aleve, Ensure, and Anoro.
Transcript below:
CBS Evening News
November 13, 2017
6:41:56 PM EasternANTHONY MASON: At a U.N. climate conference in Germany today, the Trump administration talked up fossil fuels, including coal. That puts the U.S. at odds with 194 other nations, but some American entrepreneurs and politicians want to make sure the administration does not have the final word. Mark Phillips reports.
[Cuts to video]
KIDS: Save the world! Save the World!
MARK PHILLIPS: Despite the kids' demonstration, saving the world has been harder since the Trump administration announced its pullout from the Paris climate deal. There is an enthusiastic American delegation at this U.N. conference, but Washington didn't send it. State and city governments and businessmen like Michael Bloomberg did.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG: The American government may have pulled out of the Paris agreement, but the American people are committed to its goals, and there is nothing Washington can this to stop us.
[Applause]
PHILLIPS: Washington has other ideas. Its main pitch here is to promote coal, which much of the world sees as exactly the wrong way to reduce greenhouse gasses that cause global warming. The leaders of this alternative delegation, like California Governor Jerry Brown, say: ‘Ignore Washington, listen to us.’
JERRY BROWN: America, we're here, we're in, and we're not going away! Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: And the 14 states who have come here say the U.S. can still reduce carbon output by a quarter over the next eight years as promised, partly because clean energy projects are also happening in some unlikely places.
RUSSELL TENSER: I went into Yuma, Colorado, and said we can help save the planet, they would turn me around and send me back.
PHILLIPS: Russell Tenser of United Wind told a tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, that he actually sells most of his wind turbines in red states that voted Trump.
TENSER: If you go out to these farms, it's blowing, the doors are flying off the hinges. You can feel it. It’s like, take that resource, do something that makes sense, lower your costs. They get it.
[Cuts back to live]
PHILLIPS: The argument being heard at conferences like this is that, well, it would be nice to have the support of the administration in Washington in fighting climate change, that support is not essential. In the end, economics, not politics, will prevail, and the newer forms of electricity generation, wind and solar, are in the long term not only cleaner, they're cheaper. Mark Phillips, CBS news, Lisbon.
