The vote in the UK recently to leave the European Union will likely have ramifications across all areas of society. Many are concerned about the environmental impact. Since the countries in Europe are all in relatively close proximity to one another, the environment in one impacts the environment in most of the others as well. Climate change is a problem best dealt with in cooperation with other countries and some feel remaining in the EU is the best way to deal with climate change. Some credit the power of the EU in creating the Paris Agreement and if the UK leaves that group, its ability to impact others on climate change could be reduced.
In addition, one of the leaders of the movement to leave the EU is Boris Johnson, a former mayor of London and a skeptic of climate change. He feels that other countries have too much input on Britain's actions in regards to the environment. Research is vital to climate change and recent polls show that 4 out of 5 environmental researchers feel that staying in the EU would have been a better choice to ensure that future projects on solving climate change issues could go forward. It comes down to strength in numbers for many, and had the UK stayed within the EU, some feel that climate change progress would continue to be made. With their exit, that is no longer a given.
