As a concerned parent, you must ask the question; “Will climate change kill my children, grandchildren?”

By Glen Reaux

As a concerned parent should you ask the question; “Will climate change kill my children, grandchildren?”  While this question may seem a bit extreme or even unfathomable, none-the-less, it is a valid question when one considers the climate change catastrophes that at one time were rare but have now become commonplace.  An example of such is Hurricane Harvey of 2017 which was the third 500-year flood to strike Houston Texas in 3 years.  During the California wildfires of 2018, 97 civilians and 6 firefighters were killed.  Hurricane Katrina of 2005 killed 1,853 people.  In 2015, one of the coldest American winters on record dozens died and more than $3.5 billion ^{1} in damages were caused by winter storms nationwide.  Annually, tornadoes kill on average 60 people and account for billions of dollars in property damage.  And according to NOAA, due to climate change, they will continue to increase in severity. Yet, Republicans deny climate change while the death toll keeps rising.  Just how bad will it get before they recognize the threat that climate change poses to human life in the U.S.?  Will America have to look like a Mad Max apocalypse before they come to their senses?  While at this time no one can answer that question, a thorough examination of environmental and energy policy under republican administrations expressly the Trump administration, may offer some clues as to how Republicans feel about the children and grandchildren of this country including yours.

While Trump has revealed his ignorance of climate change on the world stage, that ignorance is no excuse for the harm that his policies are doing to the American people, the planet and our children’s future.  The Trump policies from all appearances seem to be motivated by greed on behalf of his corporate donors.  Both Trump and his donors as expressed by Trump are openly stating that changes in environmental and energy policy are being made purely for the purpose of making money as if that is the solution to climate change.  This is tantamount to leaving your child locked in a car with the engine running and windows partially opened in a closed garage.  After which, you explain to the hospitalized child that you did it because it was cheaper than turning the car off.  If you can make sense of that perhaps you can convince Trump that his policies are really idiotic.

On Wednesday, September 18^th Trump struck a blow to environmental protections designed to protect your children’s future with the following series of tweets.

Trump’s waiver revocation is part of his administration’s attempts to roll back federal fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks. Trump did not provide any scientific data or documentation to support his claims of cheaper and safer cars as a reason for canceling California’s waiver.  California’s waiver was granted as a part of the federal Clean Air Act.  This law allows California to set higher emissions standards for cars than required by the federal government.  In addition, 13 states and the District of Columbia have also required that automobiles meet the California standards.  This means that Trump arbitrarily and illegal canceled an environmental law.  This action will worsen air pollution, increase respiratory illness like asthma in children and seniors, increase hospitalizations, hasten the melting of polar and glacial ice and cause the destruction of coastal cities around the globe.  Keep in mind that no one individual can cancel a federal law and Trump’s Attorney General William Barr knows it.  William Barr’s Justice Department is supposed to uphold the laws.  Instead, the Justice Department will be fighting to give Trump the ability to break the law.  Considering the upcoming costly legal battle that Trump will lose and will be paid for by the taxpayers, the only thing that makes sense about why he would try this is a maniacal need to help his corporate fossil fuel supporters make money at all cost.  So, once again via tweet, Trump adds to his 12,000 plus lies.

Republicans through the Trump administration have not only declared the science of climate change to be a non-science, but they have also declared open war on the environment including our national parks, wildlife preserves and other protected areas.  In addition, on August 29^th, the Trump administration announced that it will be rolling back Obama era regulations on oil and gas industry emissions on methane.   Methane is one of the most detrimental air pollutants and accelerators of climate change.  Methane (CH₄) is a greenhouse gas that is 34 times stronger than carbon dioxide (CO₂), 34 times when compared over a 100-year period which is the scientific standard.  Methane is responsible for 60% of the equivalent radiative forcing caused by carbon dioxide since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Methane’s presence in the atmosphere can increase the growth of other greenhouse gases, such as ozone and carbon dioxide.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that easing an Obama regulation that targets methane emissions from oil and gas wells, pipelines and storage would save fossil fuel companies up to $123 million through 2025.

In a May town hall meeting, Mayor Heidi Harmon of San Luis Obispo, California stated in opposition to a new Trump plan “Oil drilling, production and transport present a clear and ever-present danger to the health and safety of residents and businesses in our local economy.”  Mayor Heidi Harmon led the city in passing an ordinance opposing new oil and gas development.  Under her leadership, the city has committed to be carbon neutral by 2035. Under the Trump plan, the Bureau of Land Management plans to issue oil and gas leases in California for the first time in five years, including in the Central Valley and on the Central Coast which is an area encompassing more than 800,000 acres.  Harmon further stated; “While all new oil and gas drilling in the Bakersfield planning area threatens our scenic and biological resources, water supply, water quality, air quality, climate, seismicity, and rural and agricultural way of life… there are areas that the BLM proposes to open for drilling and fracking that are of particular local concern.”

Companies would employ fracking in their drilling processes.  Fracking is a highly controversial technique that has been linked to earthquakes in central and eastern Texas.  Prior to fracking, this area did not have a history of earthquake activity.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates oil extracted and burned from the area could put the equivalent of between 0.7 million and 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere each year which is the equivalent of a million more cars on the road annually.

As of September 12^th, six days ago, Trump’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will offer drilling leases on the entire Alaskan Arctic coastal plains, approximately 1.6million acres.  This area includes habitat where endangered polar bears have dens and porcupine caribou visit to birth calves.  The Indigenous human populations, who are non-white, rely on subsistence from hunting and fishing in the area. They are anticipating problems from the drilling that may threaten their way of life.  Alaska Wilderness League’s executive director Adam Kolton stated that “to no one’s surprise, the administration chose the most aggressive leasing alternative, not even pretending that this is about restraint or meaningful protection.”  “With an eye on developing the entirety of the fragile coastal plain, the administration has been riding roughshod over science, silencing dissent and shutting out entire Indigenous communities,” Kolton said.

In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 which had nothing to do with oil drilling, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska added a last-minute amendment mandating the leasing of at least 400,000 acres of the coastal plains.  The Bureau of Land Management’s announcement came the same day that the House voted 225-193 to ban drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.  The bill was quickly defeated in the Republican-controlled Senate.

On June 14^th, in furtherance of his war on science and scientist that understand climate change and the environmental impacts that his policies are having on the America people, Trump issues an Executive Order to rid federal agencies of one-third of their 1,057 advisory committees.  Many of these committees provide scientific advice to federal agencies. The order will prevent hundreds of scientists and scientific experts from providing federal agencies with needed scientific insight on developing and implementing federal policies.  This action puts the health of the American public and our environment at risk.

The Trump administration has developed a pattern of putting the public at risk in favor of policies that prefer corporations interests over the safety of people.  Such endeavors present a “clear and present danger” to the health and welfare of the American people and a dereliction of duty on the part of Donald Trump and his administrators.  This pattern of public risks is evidenced by the following actions taken by the Trump administration:

1. In July of this year, The US Department of Agriculture buried a strategic plan addressing the threats of climate change to food, agriculture, and natural resources. By burying this science-based, climate change plan, the USDA becomes derelict failing in protecting the nation with the best available science on climate change threats to food, agriculture, and natural resources. ^{2}
2. In June 2019, the EPA stopped the collection of valuable data on ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions from farms. The lack of data collection by the EPA may lead to increased exposure to ammonia or hydrogen sulfide from large farms causing serious health effects. ^{3}
3. EPA stacks scientific committees with industry representatives in opposition to scientists or professionals from academia. By using this new secretive process that altered the EPA has placed less qualified individuals at the helm of scientific advisory committees and placed the health and well being of American citizens at risk. ^{4}
4. US Geological Survey downplays climate change. Trump administration officials delayed a press release from the US Geological survey for several months and then released a highly edited version that removed many of the study’s main findings. Flooding and rising sea levels will have a severe economic impact on California by the end of the century due to climate change were the study’s findings.^{5}

As evidenced by the aforementioned acts that have weakened our national scientific community and restricted the release of scientific information to the public, the Trump administration has broken federal laws dealing with congressional oversight of the Executive Branch and its responsibility to utilize science to protect the public.  On July 10^th, State Department intelligence analyst Rod Schoonover resigned in protest after the White House blocked portions of his written testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence given in June.

The report prepared by Schoonover cited peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and intelligence reports.  The evidence in the report concluded that climate change could have wide-ranging national security impacts by contributing to increased humanitarian crises, competition for resources and risk of political instability.  The White House prevented him from including data supporting his assumptions in the report.  The report appears to confirm as a January 2019 report released by the Pentagon that declared climate change to be a national security risk.

Upon reviewing the climate change, energy and environmental policies of the Trump administration, it is obvious that this administration cares not for the public safety nor is it doing anything to protect it and the environment of the United States.  These actions taken by Donald Trump and administrators acting on his behalf pose a “clear and present danger” to the safety and welfare of this country and its citizens.  Moreover, at the expense, health and safety of the most vulnerable, our children and the elderly this administration has actively pursued, created and implemented policies that benefit corporations and money-making endeavors to the detriment of the American people.  It has intentionally engaged in plans and actions that will rob our children and grandchildren of a healthy environment and a safe and secure nation.   As a concerned parent, the question that needs to be asked is not “Will climate change kill my children, grandchildren?” The questions should be “why is President Trump attempting to destroy this nation and kill my children and grandchildren?  Is what he has done illegal? How many more must die? Based upon Trump’s behavior, the answers are very obvious.

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Linked Sources and Documentation

1. Insurance Information Institute: https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-winter-storms
2. USDA buries climate change report: https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science/usda-buries-sweeping-plan-prioritizing-climate
3. USDA stops collection of farm data: https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science/epa-stops-collecting-data-pollutants-released-farms
4. EPA stacks scientific committees with industry representatives: https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science/epa-alters-protocol-selection-scientific-advisory
5. US Geological survey climate change report: https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science/climate-change-research-downplayed-us-geological

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