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“Trump has given big industry the right to keep polluting and releasing greenhouse gases.”

By Linn Smith

If you’re thinking four more years of Trump will be good for our country, think again! Recently I heard someway echo this sentiment, “I believe in climate change, I just don’t believe it’s human caused.” As if scientific research, charts and data are made up of fictitious statistics contrived in a conspiracy that consists of millions of people around the world to further the cause…..of what?? To bring down the fossil fuel industry? Even most of the oil companies agree that climate change is human caused and are beginning to invest in clean energy.

Trump and his Science Deniers

I am not a far left democrat that believes everything the party tells me and I think anyone who does lacks a higher level of capability to think for themselves. But I do believe in science and the mass amount of data collected from thousands of sources that show our climate is changing in proportion to the amount of greenhouse gases spewing into our atmosphere, and today we have a multitude of information at our fingertips to do our own research.

Again, Earth’s warming climate is in direct proportion to the rise of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere! If a person denies all the data gathered by thousands of sensors and satellites around the world, I think they are living in fear of the truth, and the implications of this truth. Will they vote for Trump out of fear? In the broad scope of things, the fear and doubt aren’t going to matter because our planet will continue to warm anyway! While the emperor fiddled, Rome was burning around him! Trump has a total lack of concern for his country in this time of crisis!

Democrats: The Party with a Plan

So that being said, most of what I value in life sways towards the Democratic party. They’re the party that cares, has an environmental plan and may save us from the catastrophes due to climate change that are happening in our world today and will happen in the future. The world is complex and the problems will require complex solutions. Ignoring the problem of our changing climate will lead to an acceleration of extreme weather, fires, rising seas and a planet that cannot sustain our almost 8 billion population.

As the earth warms our planet is more vulnerable to the dilemmas that come with it, those that we are witnessing today, i.e. pandemics, fires, floods, rising sea levels, extinction of species, food shortages, mass migration, civil unrest and the list goes on. If you want to see examples, look around you. This is Trump’s world! It’s been said that people won’t wake up to global warming until it’s in their own back yard. Now’s the time to look out your back window!

Trump and the Environmental Rollbacks

The administration under Trump has rolled back or weakened at least 100 government regulations, many put in place by the Obama administration, resulting in an influx of greenhouse gases and toxic materials in our atmosphere and saturating our oceans and earth. Why? In the name of big business and the growth of our economy.

Here are just a few of the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks:

1.Vehicle Fuel Standards: Instead of improving fuel economy by 5 percent annually for 2021 through 2026 vehicles, the Trump administration has lowered it to 1.5 percent per year.

2.In another step to roll back Obama’s policies, Trump has denied California the right to set air pollution standards for vehicles that are aimed at cutting greenhouse gases. California’s right to set standards dates back to the Clean Air Act of 1970. Thirteen states have followed California’s standards but under Trump’s repeal millions of more tons of carbon dioxide will be released into our atmosphere.

3.The Trump administration abandoned the Paris climate accord. Backing the U.S. away from the agreement that consists of 197 countries was the signal to the world that climate change would be ignored.

4.The regulations on methane have been weakened. Methane is a major greenhouse gas which has a greater potency than carbon dioxide. Obama put regulations in place to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas fields. The new EPA rule will eliminate federal requirements for oil and gas companies to monitor and repair methane leaks from their pipelines, wells and storage facilities.

5.Recently the administration rolled back the National Environmental Policy to accelerate approval for federal projects such as pipelines, highways and power plants.

These are only few of the Trump administration’s weakening and rollbacks of environmental laws, most set in place by the Obama administration to curb back the rapidly changing climate due to greenhouse gases.

Our Responsibility to take Action

Joe Biden has released a plan to put $2 trillion into a green infrastructure and clean energy over four years.

With climate change comes a responsibility of every human being on this planet to take the necessary action to curb our ongoing disasters due to greenhouse gases. Either you take the high road and vote for Joe Biden, or you will be responsible for ongoing climate disasters in your lifetime and that of future generations.

Trump has given big industry the right to keep polluting and releasing greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, continuing the rapid disintegration of our climate as we know it.

Sources: New York Times, What Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Mean for Global by By Nadja Popovich and Brad PlumerSept. 17, 2020

Trump’s Environmental Cutbacks