With the re-election of Donald Trump, the eco-anxiety of these French people has never been so strong

CLIMATE – Wednesday, November 6, many people on this side of the Atlantic broke out in a cold sweat as soon as they woke up, learning the outcome of the American presidential election. Donald Trump makes a triumphant return to the White House, galvanized by the vote of more than 72 million Americans in favor of his protectionist economic program, his anti-immigration policy… And his climate skeptic speech.

During the meetings he has given across the country in recent weeks, the 78-year-old billionaire has never hidden that the global fight against global warming is not his priority. Worse: while COP29 is due to open on November 11 in Azerbaijan, Donald Trump has multiplied the announcements which signal a halt to the participation of the United States in global climate policies. “We're going to drill, honey, drill!” »he said during his victory speech on November 6, promising to extract ever more oil, coal and shale gas.

The 47^e The American president also pledged during his campaign to put an end to regulations on polluting emissions from cars, and to put an end to standards that limit emissions from coal-fired power plants. And of course, to get the United States out of the Paris Agreement again, which the Biden administration had rejoined in 2021.

“It makes me very pessimistic for the future”

For anyone who cares at all about leaving a livable planet to future generations, the return of Donald Trump at the head of the world's leading power is far from being good news. It's even “a disaster for the environment”, summarizes Nicolas*, who readily defines himself as eco-anxious. “Even though I expected it, I am distraught by this result. I feel a mixture of anger, anxiety and sadness”summarizes the forty-year-old.

If Donald Trump's victory worries him so much, it is also because “the future of his children” car “this is where everything is at stake now”he believes. A feeling of anguish that Camille* shares. “When I saw on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday that Trump was surely going to pass, I had insomnia”breathes the young woman, who is expecting her first child. “It makes me very pessimistic for the future, I wonder what world I will give birth into. I have the impression that we have just signed the death warrant for our planet. »

Same feeling from Catherine, 63, who fears the long-term effects of this shift on the future life of her four grandchildren. “I would like them not to suffer throughout their lives the consequences of disastrous (and for me often selfish) environmental policies. »

“One less ally with whom to hope to find solutions”

The return of Donald Trump to the American presidency is all the more worrying as his victory coincides with the publication, this Thursday, November 7, of the report from the European climate observatory Copernicus. According to its forecasts, 2024 promises to be the hottest year on record with, for the first time, crossing the limit of 1.5°C of warming over a calendar year. This succession of bad news for the climate makes Charley fear the worst.

“Trump’s victory pushes environmental concerns down another notch in a context of absolute climate emergency”regrets the young man of 27, who has no illusions about the future anti-climate policies that Trump will put to work. “From his policy of “drill, baby, drill” which intends to restart oil drilling, to his repeated attacks against American environmental institutions like the Environmental Protection Agency, these are dark days for ecology which await the United States and the world »Charlie anticipated.

Not to mention the imminent exit of the United States from the Paris Agreement, concluded in 2015, which aimed to keep global warming below +1.5°C. “This objective was already wasted effort, but there, without effort of the 2^e largest CO2 emitter in the world, it’s not going beyond +2° that becomes complicated”believes Nicolas. “We are at a crucial moment in climate negotiations. With Trump, that’s one less ally with whom to hope to find solutions”agrees Sarah*, 28 years old, who says to herself “very worried about the influence of a country like the US on the rest of the world”.

Choose action rather than resignation

If all these eco-anxious people are well aware of the urgency that the fight against climate change requires, they did not necessarily place their hopes in the victory of Kamala Harris in the American presidential election. For Sarah, her program just wasn't “meet the environmental challenges, even if obviously better than that of Donald Trump”.

An analysis shared by Nicolas, who recalls that the Democratic candidate had for her not to be climate skeptic and to pose as a defender of the rights of women and LGBT+ people. “I think that these two causes – climate and feminism – go hand in hand. » “Even if current policies are ineffective, they give us hope for a future where we will succeed in reducing our emissions before the point of no return. With Donald Trump in power, this door closes”considers Charley.

How, then, in this context, can you successfully calm your eco-anxiety? Charley admits that he “is tempting to give way to resignation”. But the twenty-year-old prefers to transform his fear of the future “in motivation to fuel citizen initiatives”. To be able, he hopes, take back control of a future that another generation, carried by a rich, privileged 78-year-old white man, is trying to impose on us”.

* First names have been changed.

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