Arnold Schwarzenegger has pushed back against remarks made by Donald Trump, in which he called climate change a “con job,” saying that it should not put people off trying to make a difference.
The former bodybuilder, actor and Governor of California said those who believed climate activism was pointless without U.S. involvement were talking “nonsense.”
It comes after Trump addressed the United Nations Assembly General Tuesday, delivering remarks in which he decried climate change as “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” and insisting countries step away from the “green scam.”
Speaking to CNN Wednesday alongside former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Schwarzenegger said the opinions of the president should not affect the beliefs of others.
“The bottom line is that he just never believed in [climate change],” he said. “And to me, I said to myself, ‘okay, then I cannot really go and be on his team.’
“Because I’m a big believer that we have to do something about reducing pollution, and we have to do something about having people die – 7 million people a year die – and so I felt very strongly about the way I was thinking.”
Schwarzenegger continued: “I totally understand that not everyone has to think like me, but what is important is that we let people know ‘okay, so that’s how our president feels. But that doesn’t mean we should stop everything.’”
“Because so many people say, ‘oh my God, if America doesn’t move forward, then does it make any sense to move forward at all?’ It’s nonsense,” he added, highlighting that all U.S. states have their own laws and climate policy.
In Tuesday’s address, Trump quoted several U.N. officials’ years-long warnings about the impacts of climate change, before declaring it a “con job” believed by “stupid people.”
“It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion,” the president said.
“Climate change, no matter what happens, you are involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.”
Despite Trump’s claims and boasts that he is always “right about everything,” countless studies show that climate change is a very real threat.
Last year marked the hottest on record with the extreme weather events across the country becoming more and more prevalent.
Climate change was a force behind the devastating wildfires that swept through Southern California in January, scientists have found, and is also making storms and flooding, including the so-called “once-in-century flood” in Texas in July, more dangerous, experts have warned.
Though his rhetoric is not new, Trump’s administration has made 70 percent more changes to government environmental websites during its first 100 days than the first administration, according to a report by Environmental Data & Governance Initiative last month.
