Donald Trump is playing a "very destructive role" in the future of the planet, says the climate campaigner and former US vice president Al Gore.
Watch Arion McNicoll from TheWeek.co.uk's full interview with Al Gore
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Instead he "threw his lot in with a rogue's gallery of climate change deniers", Gore said, and is now playing a "very destructive role" in not only US environmental policy but also the future of the planet.
However, the climate campaigner said he was heartened that so many other governments, as well as state and local representatives in the US, had come out against Trump.
"I was very concerned when he made his speech withdrawing the US from the Paris agreement, Gore said, "but I was very gratified the next day when the entire rest of the world redoubled their commitments to the Paris Agreement and when in the US the governors of our largest states and hundreds of mayors of cities and business leaders stepped up to fill the gap and said 'we're going to stay in the Paris agreement'.
"It now looks as if the US will meet our commitments regardless of Donald Trump. He's kind of isolated himself."
Gore, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George W Bush by the narrowest of margins, said he was also encouraged that Trump's policies have provoked a surge in political engagement and public protest.
"The people are reacting to him with more activism," he said. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And the reaction to Trump is really encouraging to me."
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power opens in cinemas across the UK tomorrow.
-
Political cartoons for January 18Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include cost of living, endless supply of greed, and more
-
Exploring ancient forests on three continentsThe Week Recommends Reconnecting with historic nature across the world
-
How oil tankers have been weaponisedThe Explainer The seizure of a Russian tanker in the Atlantic last week has drawn attention to the country’s clandestine shipping network
-
Iran in flames: will the regime be toppled?In Depth The moral case for removing the ayatollahs is clear, but what a post-regime Iran would look like is anything but
-
Europe moves troops to Greenland as Trump fixatesSpeed Read Foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark met at the White House yesterday
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Trump, Iran trade threats as protest deaths riseSpeed Read The death toll in Iran has surpassed 500
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
What do the people of Greenland want for their future?As Europe prevaricates over US threats for annexation there is a unifying feeling of self-determination among Greenlanders
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Venezuela ‘turning over’ oil to US, Trump saysSpeed Read This comes less than a week after Trump captured the country’s president
