Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a project Friday that aims to provide all fifty state legislators with a blueprint to pass climate change legislation to counter President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
The former California governor unveiled the Digital Environmental Legislative Handbook in partnership with the Schwarzenegger Institute at the University of Southern California and the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators:
Schwarzenegger says states do not have to wait for the federal government to combat climate change.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have a digital legislative handbook — and make it available to people who wanted to create environmental action now — because of the situation with Trump,” Schwarzenegger told Politico in an interview Thursday.
“With his decision on the Paris agreement, it is even more so important to make this information available because it shows the kinds of wonderful things states can do without waiting for the federal government,” he said.
“The message to legislators with the project is now ‘you have the power to do it yourselves,”’ Schwarzenegger said. “The reality is each state now goes to work and passes great legislation that helps them … make great decisions.”
In June, the Terminator Genisys star called for a “grassroots revolution” to continue the battle against global warming after President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
President Trump fulfilled a major campaign promise when he announced America’s withdrawal from the United Nations-backed measure.
Schwarzenegger took shots at President Trump Friday during a speech at the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“America did not drop out of the Paris agreement,” Schwarzenegger said. “One man dropped out of the Paris agreement.”
Schwarzenegger has become a leading voice in an anti-Trump resistance campaign, denouncing the president’s agenda. In February, he even offered to switch jobs with Trump “so people can finally sleep comfortably again.”
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