And our planet, our only home, is in big trouble. The United States, once a leader in environmental issues, now is the leader in rolling back environmental protections. The current administration has canceled a variety of measures designed to protect our water and air. Here is a list of some of the anti-science, anti-environment, anti-animal actions taken or proposed by the current administration.
- The so-called Environmental Protection Agency has started efforts to roll back tougher emissions standards for cars. The administration also is proposing cuts to clean energy and climate programs, as well as eliminating the agency climate change research program. It also has plans to loosen regulations regarding toxic air pollution.
- FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has removed the phrase 'climate change' from its strategic plan.
- The administration seeks to axe several NASA earth science missions, while it calls for increases in fossil fuel programs. The president continues to advocate for "beautiful, clean coal."
- Seventy five percent of the National Parks Advisory Board has resigned in protest. Government web sites have been systematically altered to remove mention of climate change. The Interior Department has declared that accidental bird deaths are legal.
- Two new national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante, both in Utah, are being dramatically downsized.
- The Department of Interior has proposed auctioning off oil and gas leases for 77 million acres of federal waters within the Gulf of Mexico—the largest lease auction of its kind ever announced.
- The EPA is set to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the lynchpin of the Obama Administration's effort to combat climate change.
- The administration has suspended a study of health risks to residents who live near mountaintop removal coal mine sites in the Appalachian Mountains.
- The EPA has drastically slowed enforcement of environmental protection laws.
- The Interior Department has relaxed certain aspects of protections for the endangered greater sage grouse.
- The administration canceled a rule that would have helped prevent endangered whales and sea turtles from becoming entangled in fishing nets off the U.S. West Coast.
- The US pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord signed by 194 other nations.
- The EPA dismissed several of its key science advisors.
- The president signed an executive order that aims to increase offshore oil drilling.
- Congress has passed legislation that would permit aerial hunting of bears, as well as shooting of denning mother bears and cubs and mother wolves and pups in Alaska
To read a comprehensive list of anti-environmental actions taken by the current administration, go to https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/ Educate yourself, then get involved in efforts to save our planet. Become an activist. Register to vote, and then VOTE in elections at all levels of government. Let your elected officials know that you do not approve of this administration's anti-environment plans and actions.
Find out what you can do on a personal level to protect the environment. After learning that the average person uses and discards some 300 plastic toothbrushes in their lifetime, I am switching to biodegradable, environmentally friendly bamboo toothbrushes, which cost less than standard plastic toothbrushes. If you must use a drinking straw, opt for a paper, not plastic, straw. Or buy your own reusable straw. Take reusable shopping bags with you, keep them in your car, and use them rather than plastic bags for your groceries and other purchases.
I know these are small steps, but if enough people take small steps, they can create big changes.
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