In 2015, the nations of the world gathered in Paris to form an international agreement with the goal to reduce the effects of climate change. Each country emerged with individual plans to reduce harmful emissions and take steps towards converting to renewable energy sources. On Thursday, June 1st, 2017, Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement in order to "keep putting America first." Unfortunately, this decision has paved the way to put America last.

Here are 5 consequences of the United States' withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

1. Diminished political credibility.

The United States is the second-largest polluting country in the world, right behind China. In 2015, the same year the Paris Agreement was enacted, the U.S. was responsible for contributing to 16% of global greenhouse gasses. By pulling out of the Paris Agreement, we are completely avoiding our responsibility to repair the damage we have caused as a nation, while other, smaller nations that do not contribute nearly as many harmful emissions, will have to pay. This act of avoiding our responsibility has already had negative effects on how other political leaders view us. Previous allies to the United States are beginning to doubt our credibility and ability to participate in world affairs.

2. Losing the position of "World Leader."

In addition to losing credibility, this decision will ultimately remove us from being the leading country in the world. By removing ourselves from the forefront of the movement towards a most sustainable environment, we are relinquishing our position to other nations such as China and Russia who are already increasing efforts to reduce the effects of climate change. In fact, only two countries other than the United States refused the agreement: Nicaragua, because they claimed the agreement wasn't proposing enough to actually make a difference, and Syria, who is in the middle of a devastating civil war.

3. Diplomatic damage.

United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres has already stated his concern that by leaving the Paris Agreement, more conflict will arise between the United States and other nations, as they move towards sustainability and the U.S. retreats from it. The German politician challenging Angela Merkel for Chancellorship, Martin Schulz, has already threatened trade retaliation by refusing to engage in trans-Atlantic trade talks as a result of the withdrawal. In fact, with the impact the U.S. has by being the second major contributor to the harmful effects of climate change, exiting the agreement will be detrimental to the goals of the agreement. This is only the beginning of the changes in diplomacy that will result in pulling out of the agreement.

4. Prohibited progress.

In the past several years, progress has been made when it comes to reducing the effects of climate change. We have become increasingly more conscious of how our actions affect the environment around us, which is good news. However, our gradual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will lose momentum without funding existing programs and implementing the changes suggested by the Paris agreement. By abandoning the agreement, global emissions will rise by 3%.

5. Reduction of jobs.

Trump's biggest critique of the Paris Agreement was that it would be detrimental to the U.S. economy and jobs would be lost. This is false. If the United States actually committed to working towards reducing the effects of climate change, millions of jobs could actually be created. In China's journey to using more renewable resources, approximately 13 million jobs have been created. One of the reasons for the apprehension associated with the agreement was based on preserving the coal industry, which is already a declining industry. People have been moving towards cheaper natural gas and more renewable sources of energy for some time. Here is a statement from Bob O'Keefe, executive director of Environmental Entrepreneurs:

"It sends a signal both to companies and the 3 million people here who work in clean energy that America doesn’t care about those jobs, and America doesn’t care about the fastest-growing industry in the country."

There will be no jobs if there is no Earth. We must all work to preserve and improve our home because that is all we have. There is no Planet B.