French President Emmanuel Macron and former Californian Governor/Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a video saying they plan to “make the planet great again” — a not-so-subtle jab at President Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement.
The announced US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement didn’t sit right with many people, both in the US and abroad. And it seems that Californian governors, in particular, aren’t big fans of the idea. Earlier this month, we’ve seen Gov. Jerry Brown filling in as the USA’s de-facto climate ambassador at the 8th Clean Energy Ministerial in Beijing. Now, former gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (who’s also a vegetarian and a big supporter of green tech) met with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to discuss a green future for both countries and how to “make the world great again” for everyone in it — not just the USA.
I was truly honored to meet with President @EmmanuelMacron about how we can work together for a clean energy future. He's a great leader. pic.twitter.com/MSoxjIruup
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) June 23, 2017
On June 1, as Trump was announcing the USA’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Macron posted a video on Facebook in which he basically called any and all US scientists to come live and work in France.
“To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the President of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland. I call on them: come and work here with us, to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment,” he said.
Not long after that, he launched the Make Our Planet Great Again website, where citizens from all over the world, not just the US, could submit their name and email address and receive information on coming to France and getting to work on just that goal. Given that Macron made his opinion on President Trump policies pretty clear, I’d say the slogan isn’t a simple coincidence but rather what the cool kids call “a burn.”
Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of the message just goes to show that a lot of people, from America and beyond, resonate with the idea that we can’t hide behind our borders anymore. We’re all in this together, whether we want it or not, and the only way forward is to work together. Until such a time, the only thing the USA will likely make great by repressing its scientific community is a brain drain.
