• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Trump and the Environment

TWDeac

Resident Astrophysicist
Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
22,079
Reaction score
889
Location
Cincinnati, OH
I am legitimately concerned by what Trump has promised with regards to policies which affect our environment. Specifically his talk about completely dismantling the EPA or at least neutering it. By now, we all have heard rumors of his intent to appoint a well-known climate change denier as Director.

I believe we are the root cause of climate change. The vacuum left by the US ceasing its involvement in climate change advocacy and leadership is deeply concerning. This isn't something we can easily stop. It will take multiple generations to make an impact on what we have done and are currently doing to our ecosystem. Obama made some great inroads but there is more to be done. Trump appears to be set to erase that progress in one fell swoop. As the second leading producer of greenhouse gas emissions behind China, we have a responsibility to lead by example.

He has also promised to remove all restrictions on developing fossil fuel sites and pipelines, lift sanctions on pollution, and his plan to remove two regulations for every one implemented will undoubtedly harvest low hanging liberal weenie environmental protections.

Our wilderness and in particular, our national parks, are treasures to the nation. I cannot abide by someone who would willingly do them harm in the interest of corporate profits and making America great again. It is ludicrous.

I am an avid outdoorsman and I have seen first hand the ramifications of loose or non-existent environmental policies. Dupont almost single-handedly ruined the Ohio River for decades due to its illegal dumping of thousands of tons of PFOA. I was just walking its banks yesterday and you can tell that the ecosystem is still recovering almost 50 years after the Clean Water Act was enacted. It is easy to say I will just move to Finland or New Zealand or any country that values and protects its environment but this isn't just because of national pride. This truly affects the entire world and is the thing that concerns me the most about Trump's presidency. We can't make America great again by ruining its ecosystem for our descendants.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html?_r=0

I didn't vote for Trump. I think he is a scumbag, but he won fair and square and now my main concern is doing what I can to prevent his policies from destroying what matters most to me. It is safe to assume that a large majority of his supporters, especially those in rural areas, have at least a tangential relationship with the outdoors. It is clear to me that they did not consider, or care about this aspect of his presidency and how it may affect the ecosystem if he follows through on his promises. My entire family fits under this umbrella. Most are multi-season hunters and rely on their kills to provide food for their families.I get it, they were more focused on his other policies and positions that may have an immediate impact, but I'm sure if you polled most of them, or really any American, the outdoors would be high on a list of their most cherished things.

This isn't something that is going to happen overnight, or maybe even in the four to eight years he is President, but I fear for the next 50 years if we don't start taking this seriously and he actually begins to roll back all of the progress that Obama made with our government policies and with the mindset of the American people.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, no matter your party. Talk me off the edge or tell me what you are planning to do if this is important to you as well.
 
Sorry to break it to you, but we're too far gone down the bad environmental path to reverse it. Let the good times roll.
 
It's not going to matter if there are polar bears in the future. The robots won't need them and your successors will exist in a wonderful virtual world.
 
EPA pollutes Colorado River. No one held accountable.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/07/colorado-river-epa-mine-wastewater-spill/31320641/

Mother Jones finds out that EPA is responsible for Flint Water:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/01/tnr-epa%E2%80%99s-silent-guilty-role-flint-water-crisis

EPA loses court battle over coal:

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/18/epa-loses-court-battle-coal-job-losses/

The EPA is one of the most politicized and incompetent groups of idiots in the federal government. Anyone who is worried about them not being in charge of things is a moran!

Good intentions coupled with idiocy is not good government.
 
Cool, let's make this a thread of private industry environmental disasters vs accidents by the EPA
 
EPA pollutes Colorado River. No one held accountable.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ado-river-epa-mine-wastewater-spill/31320641/

Mother Jones finds out that EPA is responsible for Flint Water:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/01/tnr-epa’s-silent-guilty-role-flint-water-crisis

EPA loses court battle over coal:

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/18/epa-loses-court-battle-coal-job-losses/

The EPA is one of the most politicized and incompetent groups of idiots in the federal government. Anyone who is worried about them not being in charge of things is a moran!

Good intentions coupled with idiocy is not good government.

Thank you for these examples. We see first-hand in many emerging market countries and pre-1970 US what happens to the environment when we allow corporations and people to do as they please. The EPA does more good than harm.
 
Trump's presidency will be a disaster for the environment. I truly believe that all the other things people are worried about with him are over blown compared to the roll backs he will institute on environmental protection policy. Couple him with a republican dominated snow-ball throwing congress and it is with in the realm of possibility that we won't have an endangered species act or a clean water act in a few years time.
 
spoiler alert: this is the end of the new NatGeo Docu called "before the flood." Powerful stuff.

 
Back
Top