- Green policies - a way to get money or a way to clean your house
- Sands believes that the aim is to control the masses of people by any means necessary
- While working at the America First Policy Institute, Sands dictated a more restrained approach
- Some believe that Sands' elevation to the post poses a risk
Green policies - a way to get money or a way to clean your house
Former Ambassador Carla Sands focuses on energy issues at the America First Policy Institute, which is linked to Donald Trump.
In 2019, she served as Ambassador to then-President Donald Trump. Trump, she played several roles. But perhaps the most shocking of her speeches to the lay public was her remarks that "children are increasingly willing to kill themselves just to save the planet from global warming and that the Joe Biden administration's climate policies show the influence of China's corruption".
The politics and debate about reducing the world's birth rate to tackle global warming are rather controversial. However, while some political groups see the topic in the context of sustainability and resource management, others, on the contrary, argue that net zero emissions are another opportunity for profiteering. This is what Nigel Farage, UK MP and leader of Reform UK, said earlier this summer when he criticized the global net zero program.
Green parties in various countries often highlight this theme, which addresses the issue of population growth on the margins of environmental sustainability. While many focus on decarbonization, the transition to renewable energy, and the preservation of biodiversity, some advocate stabilizing or reducing population growth as a way of mitigating climate change[1].
In addition, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested as early as 2019 that African countries, in particular, should address high fertility as part of the global fight against climate change. The Chinese government also has a population control policy, in particular the one-child policy, which has been relaxed in recent years.
One thing is clear: this debate is fraught with controversy over ethics and human rights.
Sands believes that the aim is to control the masses of people by any means necessary
Now, with the US elections coming up on 5 November, Sands shares his thoughts.
Since 2022, she has been, as you know, the chief energy officer at the America First Policy Institute, a think-tank that received a major boost in August when Trump chose Linda McMahon - the group's board chair - as one of the co-chairs of his presidential transition team. Here, Sands, Vice-Chair of the group's Centre for Energy and the Environment, found a platform to promote her views on climate change. The Institute, set up in 2021, is staffed by several former Trump officials, including former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and former Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.
Despite the above-mentioned "ingredients", Sands' ideas on climate and energy policy may well end up in the second round of D. Trump's administration - no matter how unusual they may seem on the surface.
"Kids are killing themselves to save the planet, kids are committing suicide because they don't want to put out CO2. That's how badly they've brainwashed and traumatized our children," she said at an America First event at the Texas Policy Institute last year.
At the same event, Sands aimed the urban planning concept known as 15-minute cities. The general idea is to make cities more pedestrian-friendly, but the proposal has become a lightning rod for the far right, which sees it as a means of government control.
"They geographically restrict people to 15 minutes from their homes, and you have to get a special permit to leave," she said, adding that climate is not about climate at all, it is about Marxism to control humanity.
While working at the America First Policy Institute, Sands dictated a more restrained approach
She stressed her desire to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, and argued that the administration's climate policy would benefit China more than the United States. She also opposed the oil and gas industry regulation and the Paris Climate Agreement. However, many are still putting her words on top of the debate about electric cars, which are supposedly more environmentally damaging than petrol-powered vehicles over 15 years.
However, Stephen Moore, Trump's economic adviser and a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute, praised Sands as someone who knows energy policy.
"I know that she advocates an energy strategy of all kinds, which includes oil, gas, coal, nuclear, all of the major sources of energy that make our economy work," he said, believing that she is talking about what she understands best.
Some believe that Sands' elevation to the post poses a risk
Arunima Krishna, a Boston University communications professor who researches climate disinformation, said there is a real danger in elevating officials like Ms Sands to positions of influence because it opens the way for their extreme ideas to become mainstream.
If we recall, Sands did not, in fact, enter politics according to the usual script.
In 2015, Sands' husband, Fred Sands, died after a stroke. She then reportedly amassed a fortune from a real estate brokerage and investment firm, calling Trump a "joker" after the death of her husband the same year. However, after his death, Ms. Sands organized a major fundraising event for Trump at a mansion. Finally, during the 2016 cycle, she gave more than USD 200 000 to Republican candidates and political action committees, according to data from the campaign spending tracking programme OpenSecrets.
Sands' efforts in the 2016 election helped her get a post abroad as Trump's ambassador to Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Her work history prior to this post includes a career as a chiropractor, as well as several small acting roles.
During her time as Ambassador, Sands repeatedly violated the Hatch Act, a regulation that applies to all Department of Justice employees and prohibits them from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty. She then used her government Twitter account to attack Democrats, including one post questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris could run because she is the child of immigrants. Although Ms Sands' ambassadorship ended when Trump lost the 2020 election, she remained active in politics.
In 2022, she ran as the Republican candidate for the US Senate seat in Pennsylvania, finishing fourth in the primary elections. During this campaign, she referred to herself as an "energy senator", although she reportedly had almost no experience in this field. In addition, she continued to play the role of a major supporter, raising more than USD 85 000 in support of Trump's efforts in this election cycle.
However, some loudly resent her ideologies. Eden Alem, a spokeswoman for the Democratic-affiliated group Climate Power, said that Sands' comments are in line with those of Republicans who deny the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, even though it has created clean energy jobs across the country.
"The America First Policy Institute and Project 2025 are cut from the same cloth," she added, clarifying that this is what it looks like for Trump-backed Big Oil projects that will supposedly disrupt climate and clean energy progress so that their funders, Big Oil, can continue to make record profits and pollute our communities.
In recent weeks, the America First Policy Institute has become increasingly embedded in Trump's campaign, and Sands is urging Republican voters to vote early.
