As wildfires and pollution choke the American people with smoke, and as climate change destabilizes global ecosystems, the Trump administration has made it their goal to further deregulate energy, industry, and logging. In addition to massive proposed personnel cuts to the EPA, which could have ramifications that last decades, the administration has also moved to gut bedrock laws that protect the health of the environment and the common people, such as the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. In his cry to “Drill, baby, drill,” Trump promises to put industry profits over the health and well being of not only the working class, but also all nonhuman life. The administration has cast its deregulatory efforts as an attempt to keep the USA “energy dominant,” and to bring down the cost of living. This is a mockery to all those who have had their very lives cut short by the pollution and fires that Trump is promising to encourage.
We must not stand by idly and let our lives be cut short by those who are making profits off of ecological disasters. Many of the proposed changes, such as to the Endangered Species Act, are also open to public comment. More than moving through approved channels though, we must do everything in our power to fight against these dangerous deregulations. We must advocate and agitate for the environment. Join the Sustainable Earth Council to fight for our future.
Madeleine Cepak