Yesterday, in my hometown, we had the news that an award-winning non-for-profit was closing its doors due to the federal government breaking contract and retracting funds. Though a small drop in federal expenditures, this is a blow for our city as this entity was devoted to immersing disadvantaged kids in science and nature.
This is another strike to our region. It is also just one example of the casualties suffered while the Trump administration continues to break legal contracts that total billions in our tax dollars initially set aside for advancing science to better our communities, economies and the people living in them.
I do not use the word “casualties” lightly. In fact, it’s long past the time our leaders need to be calling Trump’s action what they are: a war on the United States.
Enabled by a corrupt and compromised Supreme Court, Trump is initiating a surge in Confederacy values: concentrating wealth in the hands of the few in order to exploit our natural resources and cheap labor. This was the original America that Trump is saying was “great”: the freedom of the rich and powerful to do what they want regardless of its impact on the common good and our rights to experience health and happiness. Is this the way Lincoln’s legacy gets rolled back and our Union gets toppled – by the Confederacy’s long game?
Perhaps it can be excused as who wants to be the first that acknowledges this reality of a civil war? Accusing a sitting President of initiating domestic violence could potentially make things in the short-term much worse before they get better. But look around you, Other Powerful People, as the visual evidence of said war is happening in several American cities, how can you just stand by and pretend we can just wait until the next federal election?
For the last ten years we have endured the line of what is acceptable to seemingly accommodate Trump’s power grab as somehow “normal”. With each step towards malignant authoritarian rule, I have held onto hope that a unified front with the rest of the Powers that Be would engage, push back, and save our democracy.
And the planet. As a madman in power steals funds from American residents, he is also robbing us of clean air, water, the natural commons and literally our lives as global warming continues to exact its toll.
America is the only westernized nation where the scientific fact of human-caused climate change is debated as if it is an ideology, rather than information spoken in the universal language of science. As other countries around the globe use it to advance technology and better their communities, Americans will be left holding a hot, polluted mess that will take decades we don’t have to rebuild.
Since I was laid off a month ago from my energy-conservation-focused job due to our federal contracts not being honored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) I have watched in growing alarm – and despair to be quite frank – as Trump keeps doubling down on the war against us through his rollbacks of the laws meant to preserve what’s left of our planet’s natural resources. These are ours, not his to do with what he wants. Or should be.
Early in the month we had more bad news that the DOE was going to cancel $7.6 billion in clean energy contracts. Trump and his cronies are literally taking a sledgehammer to whole industries. And it’s going to cost the U.S. much more than this figure on an economic level as the globe continues to be ravaged by climate change.
And climate change will be tough on many more things than just our wallets. Ignoring it while our planet exhibits the stress of it year-round is akin to not wearing a seatbelt while participating in a highspeed car race. Eventually, the harm will happen. And it will be devastating.
The health of our lungs and hearts is impacted by wildfire smoke. Our lives are in danger when the grid fails during extreme temperatures. And in some regions, indoor air quality can be impacted by mold growth due to inefficiencies still not fixed that cause condensation and other airborne allergens. And I haven’t even started talking about the dangers that are more obvious to Americans like an increase in hurricane and tornado intensity (more heat = more energy for storms to absorb and pummel us with).
It’s not too late to stop the slide. But we need a common voice led by more than just Newsom, Sanders and AOC. We need the whole Democrat party and their independent allies to stop whistling through the graveyard. Be a Churchill in other words, not a Chamberlain.
I am grateful for the pushback that has finally come from Democrats that are drawing the line on healthcare access and costs– better late than never. But they have stood by mostly in silence as other federal expenditures are retracted and will negatively impact our health and lives through environmental degradation. What is the point of pooling our tax dollars for a society that does not strive for modern technology, peace, universal health and equality?
I am appealing to you, Other Powerful People: see the chance of a legacy in the history books that you stepped up to the moment and led a movement to save our democracy and our Earth for the global population now; and a viable technologically advanced society of the future.
Next year may be too late. Seize the day.
