The hypocrisy of climate change deniers

Where there is the potential for profit, even the most ardent climate change deniers
will seize the opportunity to take advantage of the damage caused by the climate catastrophe. Such is the case with President-elect Donald Trump and his gang of corporate supporters.

In late December, Trump announced his plans for the U.S. to take back control of the Panama Canal and to buy the island nation of Greenland, insisting both were critical to U.S. security. What Trump did not acknowledge was the impact that climate change damage – which is affecting global shipping – has had on both Panama and Greenland.

Dec. 31, 2024, marked the 25th year since the U.S. ceded to Panama full control over the canal. While a massive project from 2007 to 2017 greatly expanded the canal’s capacity, severe drought in 2023, due to global warming, lowered water levels, hindering the canal’s function.

At freshwater Lake Gatún, essential for passage through the canal, water levels sank to historic lows, forcing canal authorities to restrict traffic and impose higher fees. The result has been weeks-long delays to cross through the canal and a 29% drop in ships using it, from 14,080 in 2023 to 9,933 in 2024.

There is also potential for competition from China for a new inter-ocean shipping passage in Central America. In November, China’s government announced that it has been negotiating with Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega to construct an alternate waterway to connect the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. This challenge from China may be the motivation behind Trump’s threats to take over the canal.

Competition for future Arctic passages

A North American island located in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans between Canada and continental Europe, Greenland is strategic to ships accessing the Arctic. Due to global warming, retreating ice fields in Greenland have opened access to new areas to drill for oil and gas, plus places to mine for critical minerals. At the same time, melting sea ice, resulting in sea levels rising by as much as 23 feet, is opening up more ocean trade routes for shipping free of ice field blockage.

While Trump calls climate change a hoax, his former National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien recently attributed Trump’s interest in buying Greenland to climate change. He said: “Greenland is a highway from the Arctic all the way to North America, to the United States. It’s strategically very important to the Arctic, which is going to be the critical battleground of the future, because as the climate gets warmer, the Arctic is going to be a pathway that maybe cuts down on the usage of the Panama Canal.” (New York Times, Dec. 31)

Trump may also be eager to get a jumpstart on asserting U.S. domination in the Arctic because of increasing competition with China and Russia. The two countries are currently cooperating to establish alternative Arctic shipping routes in areas previously impassible most of the year. These include the Northern Sea Route along Russia’s northern coastline, the Northwest Passage running through Canadian waters and a possible transpolar route crossing the North Pole.

The Arctic Council Working Group on the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) released an updated study on Jan. 31, 2024, that found a 37% increase in ships able to use Arctic waterways from 2020-2023 compared to 2013-2019. The studies attribute the increase in the number of ships in the Arctic — and the 111% increase in distances they sailed, from 6.1 million to 12.9 million nautical miles – to changes to the marine environment, primarily a decrease in the extent of sea ice and the loss of older, thick ice.

This has significant implications, resulting in longer navigation seasons and new access to previously difficult to reach regions of the Arctic. (arctic-council.org)

Battleground of the future

O’Brien was right when he called the Arctic a “critical battleground of the future.” The U.S. imperialist war threats against Russia and China will not stop with the end of the Biden administration and Trump’s takeover as president. Competition between socialist China and the capitalist U.S. has already led Trump to threaten ever higher tariffs against China, while Washington is surrounding China with increasing U.S. military installations.

Access to global trade routes opening up because of global warming will play a key role in this trade war, despite Trump denying the impact of climate change.

Over recent years, China has been dedicated to establishing policies to address global warming. The U.S., on the other hand, has pushed ever-expanding militarism — the number one cause of the climate catastrophe.