Trump’s climate denial is just one of the forces that point towards war | George Monbiot

The failure to get to grips with our crises, by all mainstream political parties, is likely to lead to a war between the major powers in my lifetime

Wave the magic wand and the problem goes away. Those pesky pollution laws, carbon caps and clean-power plans: swish them away and the golden age of blue-collar employment will return. This is Donald Trump’s promise, in his video message on Monday, in which the US president-elect claimed that unleashing coal and fracking would create “many millions of high-paid jobs”. He will tear down everything to make it come true.

But it won’t come true. Even if we ripped the world to pieces in the search for full employment, leaving no mountain unturned, we would not find it. Instead, we would merely jeopardise the prosperity – and the lives – of people everywhere. However slavishly governments grovel to corporate Luddism, they will not bring the smog economy back.

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Even if we ripped the world apart in the search for full employment, leaving no mountain unturned, we wouldn't find it