As global warming accelerates, the administration’s retreat from climate
policy could leave consequences lasting far beyond any presidency.

Trump’s Biggest Sin? Mishandling Our Climate Crisis
Walter G. Moss / LA Progressive

https://www.laprogressive.com/climate-change/mishandling-our-climate-crisis

(September 13, 2026) — What is Trump’s Biggest Sin? Already in November 2017, less than a full year into his first presidential term, I argued that one of his offenses “that cries out for citizen outrage, for indignation, for righteous anger, for massive protests and other political actions is what he is doing to our environment.”

Now, almost a decade later, among the many possible offenses one could mention—e. g., his many attacks on historical and other truths—I would still contend that his “biggest sin” is his denial of our climate crisis.

To start with, let’s use Merriam-Webster’s first definition of sin: “an offense against religious or moral law.” In late 2015, at the Pars Peace summit, President Obama indicated that “the growing threat of climate change could define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other.”

Not long afterward, however, President Trump began his first term, and then, after a Biden four-year interlude, his second in 2025. Throughout the Trump presidency, he has maintained that our climate crisis “is a hoax.” And, especially in his second term, he has taken numerous steps indicating his desire to end or mitigate any efforts to address the crisis. (See here and here for Trump’s environmental actions—or lack thereof—in his first and second terms.)

This failure to address the most serious problem of our day—last month, for example, was the hottest August globally on record—is Trump’s biggest sin. It is so because of the damage his pro-fossil-fuel actions and climate-crisis inactions will eventually cause to all life, human and non-human, both here in the USA and abroad

A recent article in the British newspaper The Guardian indicates just how serious the problem is. Entitled “Climate ‘feedback loops’ could worsen global warming by 30%, study finds,” it states that “rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels are transforming the world’s forests, wetlands and tundra to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating by as much as 30%, a new study has found.”

The article continues, “As the world heats up, permafrost in the high latitudes is thawing, fiercer wildfires are burning in drying forests and wetlands and lakes are warming.” All of these changes—mainly not factored into present climate projections—are “themselves causing the release of planet-heating methane and carbon dioxide locked in trees and soils. . . . Even small fractions of temperature change across the global climate can greatly change the risk of severe and deadly heatwaves, floods, drought and other impacts.”

The Guardian piece mentioned that the UN’s “international pact [of 2015] to constrain the global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels will be breached in the next few years, causing climate impacts such as this summer’s record heatwaves and wildfires to “strike faster, hit harder and last longer.” It said: “There are no good outcomes above 1.5C.”

Several days earlier, The Guardian was more explicit about the UN report, writing that “heating of up to 3C above preindustrial levels could lead to glaciers losing more than a quarter of their mass by 2100, raising sea levels by up to 13cm. Global food production could decline by up to 14% by 2050 if there are not effective strategies to adapt. Human health, water supplies, nature, cities, infrastructure and economies could all be severely damaged. Some losses would be irreversible. Many communities may have to relocate or change their livelihoods.”

The future loss and suffering of human life at present is incalculable. But one thing is certain: A continuation of Trumpian climate policies would maximize such suffering.

Walter G. Moss is a professor emeritus of history at Eastern Michigan University. He is the author of Russia in the Age of Alexander II, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (2002). For a list of all his recent books and online publications, including many on Russian history and culture, go here