by Cache Legault
Trump and the environment, an omnipresent force in our lives and the reason we’re all here, and then there is the environment. That pesky environment, always foiling the plans of republicans much like Scooby Doo does to phony ghouls.
“We would’ve opened that new pipeline if it wasn’t for your meddling river!”
I know what you’re thinking, this sounds like another snarky snowflake getting triggered, but I promise this isn’t Tomi Lahren in a drum circle; mainly because that level of rage is impossible to maintain and I don’t like Dave Matthews. One point I’d like to make real quick, though, snowflakes can do a lot of damage (see: Atlanta snowstorm 2014, that was only two inches, when was the last time anyone was scared of two inches?). Plus, doesn’t it make sense that snowflakes should be concerned with global warming?
Anyway, you can go back to Trump’s campaign speech in Grand Junction where he didn’t mention once how he would protect the land we all live off of here. Whether that is land for agriculture, recreation, urban development or even that patch of nothing in between Junction and Denver, a contributor to the success of the western slope is its land.
Instead of the environment, that speech Trump made focused mainly on the impending invasion of scary Muslims and Mexicans into America: the land of immigrants and free religion. He also berated the dishonest media (Hi) and Hillary Clinton’s emails. We all know how illegal those were; I’m so glad she’s locked up now (What? She isn’t? They didn’t find anything illegal, huh… It’s weird how little I’ve heard about those since the election). From that speech, it was evident to me that Trump doesn’t even consider the environment or our individual concerns here in Colorado to be important or at least they weren’t sexy enough talking points during his campaign.
Now that we are three weeks into his presidency (this is going to be a long eight years), we have seen Trump put an Orwellian gag order on the EPA, among other things. Essentially Trump told them that they are no longer working in the interest of the people and wildlife, but for the White House, whatever that interest happens to be today.
To be more specific Trump has: asked the EPA to remove its climate page from their website, cut in half the number of staffers going to a climate change conference in Alaska and nominated Scott Pruitt. Pruitt himself has said that he is a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda, according to factcheck.org, who aims to cut the overall staff of the EPA by two-thirds. The first move to strangle a government agency, especially one that is in place to regulate pollution from all sorts of industrial sources as well as look out for our well-being, is suspicious. What we all should be doing now is being on the lookout for those who would gain from a muzzled EPA.
In other news, though, donations to environmental protection organizations like The Sierra Club have seen an increase in donations of 700 percent according to The Washington Times. Many liberal groups with imposing warnings of Trump’s ignorance or apathy have seen massive increases in donations. Hey, there you go Trump, you’re helping the cause just not in the way you intended to.
The Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines are approved more or less by Trump. An executive order has been written for the Dakota Access to the Army Corps of Engineers and a resubmission of paperwork for Keystone. This is a sound decision that is unpopular with every Native American, many Non-Native Americans and even Canadians who protested in freezing conditions in Dakota and the growing renewable energy sector, one that employs more people than the coal industry, according to Politifact.
This brings us to China, yes China (watch the YouTube cut of Trump saying China). In recent news, China has become one of the biggest drivers in the world of renewable energy; you just have to Google images of Chinese city smog to figure out why.
Despite this, Trump is obsessed with China and their “global warming hoax,” the cognitive dissonance to say China made up climate change (not that it is actually existent from the vast majority of educated scientists), and for what? So that the US wastes a bunch of money on solar panels and wind farms? Is that what Trump thinks? That global superpowers are pulling fast ones on each other like Jim and Dwight from “The Office.”
Regardless, these next four to eight years are going to be a major test to not only our environment but our political atmosphere. Together, we can all do our part to reduce, reuse and recycle, as well as have constructive conversations about our Earth with those who may disagree with you in real life.
