Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Obama has said that the world will face much more harsh conditions on future generations than this current affair. He began to urge people to demand more leaderships.

In a tweet on Earth Day, the former president shared an Associated Press report about the current young climate activists that have galvanised a global movement 50 years after Earth Day was founded.

He praises how the youth of today have seized upon the opportunity to lead the battle of this climate crisis. He also praised the youth’s ability to adapt the movement to the current health crisis.

He said: “All of us should follow the young people who’ve led the efforts to protect our planet for generations, and demand more of our leaders at every level.”

The current president, Donald Trump, marked Earth Day’s 50th anniversary by planting a tree outside the White House, while saying one of his many declarations that the US has the “cleanest air and water than anywhere on Earth.” – It doesn’t.

Over the last several years, the nation’s air quality has been in decline, scientists have reported. The American Lung Association’s recent State of the Air report found nearly half of the US, roughly 350 million people, are breathing polluted air.

The Clean Air Act also marks it’s 50th anniversary this year, which the EPA has cited for most of the emissions reductions within the last few decades.

However, the Trump administration has proposed dramatic rollbacks to the law or dropped enforcement entirely.

TSA report highlights that 2016, 2017 and 2018 were also among the five hottest years in history. 2019 being the hottest year in Europe.

The change in climate patterns “fuel wildfires and their dangerous smoke, and lead to worsened particle and ozone pollution”.

President of the ALA Harold Wimmer said that the 2020 report “”shows that climate change continues to degrade air quality and increase the risk of air pollution harming health. To protect the advances in air quality we fought for 50 years ago through the Clean Air Act, we must again act today, implementing effective policies to protect our air quality and lung health against the threat of climate change.”

On Tuesday, the white house also finalised rule changes to the Obama-era protections in the Clean Water Act to effictively remove the limits on the volumes of pollution that is allowed to be released into streams and wetlands.

Roughly 81% of of streams could be at risk in the US southwest if these rule changes go though, thus eliminating these protected areas.

It is effective on 20th June. Several environmental groups have challenged the rule change.

Credit: Alex Woodward – The Independent

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