“Trumping” The Environment
People of sound reason and an appreciation for the future would expect an administration to possess at least the barest modicum of respect for the land on which it governs. Yet, in his first week of office in 2025, President Donald J. Trump has, with all the subtlety of a runaway train, managed to steer the United States directly towards an environmental calamity, all while tooting his own horn with the gusto of a man who mistakes arrogance for wisdom.
To be specific, in his first week, Trump began the process of pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, ramping up the production of domestic oil/gas, undermining the “Endangered Species Act”, removing incentives for electric vehicles, and eliminating environmental justice. “These orders will make our communities less prepared for extreme weather,” wrote Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, policy expert, and author who co-founded the nonprofit think tank Urban Ocean Lab.
Let’s look at more details on some of Trump's environmental dystopian actions from his first week:
Pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement: Among his opening salvos was the decision—executed with a pen that seems to hold a particular grudge against common sense—to once more yank the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is rather like a man leaping from a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, convinced he can outswim the storm. While the rest of the world rallies to confront the impending tempests of climate change, the self-proclaimed genius of industry and economy has declared it best to throw our lot in with the rising tides and see if America can out-drown its competitors.
“Walking away from the Paris Agreement won’t protect Americans from climate impacts, but it will hand China and the European Union a competitive edge in the booming clean energy economy and lead to fewer opportunities for American workers,” said Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute.
Declaring a “national energy emergency": Next, he declared a "national energy emergency" via an executive order, which is a turn of phrase as peculiar as it is misguided, for the emergency exists not in the need for more oil and gas, but in the desperate consequences of their overindulgence. With all the zeal of a carnival barker, Trump has pledged to "drill, baby, drill," as if the earth were some bottomless purse, eager to be emptied without consequence. It is worth noting that under the previous administration, America had already become the world's largest oil producer. But the man’s solution to any problem, real or imagined, is ever the same: double down, facts be damned.
Then there came his effort to bulldoze past regulations faster than a unsuccessful Vegas gambler fleeing his debts. Trump’s orders to accelerate permitting for energy projects, coupled with his dismissive words on the Endangered Species Act and Arctic protections, seem to suggest that nature itself is merely a nuisance standing in the way of commerce. If the trees, the rivers, and the air cannot turn a profit, then what good are they?
Revoke set goals for electric vehicles: Not content to ravage the present, Trump turned his gaze toward the future, setting his sights on electric vehicles saying that he will end Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate.” All of that is likely frustrating for automakers, who have to make long-term decisions, said Jessica Caldwell, head of insights at auto-buying research firm Edmunds. As the rest of the world moves to electric cars, automakers have to decide how to factor in the global direction the industry is headed alongside the sudden lack of federal support.
Eliminate a push for environmental justice: Lastly, and most insidiously, Trump has abandoned the notion of environmental justice—an idea as simple as it is just: that the burdens of pollution ought not to fall disproportionately on the poor and marginalized. His administration, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that such considerations are unnecessary, as though the lungs of the less fortunate are somehow less deserving of clean air. This action means that when the government reviews new facilities that emit pollution, officials are no longer likely to consider environmental justice, or how that new pollution will add to the emissions and health problems. These are sweeping moves that Rena Payan, chief program officer at nonprofit Justice Outside, called “rolling back decades of progress in addressing environmental discrimination.”
To sum it up, President Trump has, in one short week, managed to outdo even his own previous tenure in his war against the environment. He has taken a cudgel to progress and wielded it with pride, all while his followers’ cheer from the sidelines, blissfully unaware that they, too, must breathe this air and drink this water. Trump is showing once again that he is not MAGA but is actually MALGA - “Make America Less Great Again”.
I hope that these extreme actions will wake up those who didn’t vote and provide backbone to those who reluctantly voted for Trump and pull what I call “Pulling a Grover Cleaveland” who’s split 2nd term was so disastrous that at the midterm both the house and senate flipped. To keep my sanity these next two years until the midterms join with me and answer Michelle Obama’s call to action of “Just Do Something.”
By: Robert Sherriff, January 29, 2025
PCDCC, Communications Committee
