The American Approach to Climate Change: a general overview and a focus on the Northern and Artic Regions

With the beginning of the Donald Trump presidency in the United States (January 2017), the framework of international climate change policy has had a complete reversal of its path, with great controversy within the United States itself. The consequences of this orientation will have a global reverberation—from a political point of view, on maintaining commitments from other states; and from a climatic point of view, with the rise of global temperatures, the change of many ecosystems, and the difficulty in accessing food and water for many populations. That situation affects in particular the indigenous communities of Alaska, which have inhabited the Arctic forests for millennia. Here heating is faster, the Arctic ice is retreating rapidly, and the coastal communities are in serious and growing danger. This chapter deals with an overview of the American policy on climate change and in particular its consequences on the Arctic region, with references to current and potential response strategies.