EARTH FIRST!

Ball of Confusion

April 22, 2018

April 22, 197

Forty-eight years ago, on April 22nd the first Earth Day saw millions of Americans gather all across this land hoping to raise awareness of the importance of protecting the environment. Long before that people like Benjamin Franklin, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, George Washington Carver and Teddy Roosevelt fought to preserve America’s natural treasures.

Pennsylvania (literally Penn’s Woods) has a long history of environmentalism. John Audubon and Rachel Carson were Pennsylvanians. And our founder, William Penn wrote America’s first conservation law, which required colonists to leave one acre of trees for every five acres of land cleared.

Shortly after the first Earth Day, Richard Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency. Yes, that Richard Nixon. Just in time for Earth Day 2017, Donald Chrump put Scott Pruitt, who sued the EPA more than a dozen times as Oklahoma’s attorney general, and has an exceedingly chummy (and that is putting it mildly) relationship with the oil industry, in charge of the EPA. Besides all of Pruitt’s environmentally catastrophic actions as head of the EPA, he has been very busy being paranoid, greedy and criminal. In other words, a perfect fit for Team Chrump.

Last year, Prezident Chrump ignored military, intelligence, climate and environmental experts, and of course, science in order to embarrass America by pledging to withdraw from the landmark Paris Climate Accord saying, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Pittsburgh begged to differ. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto took to the only printed word medium Der Furor can navigate:

America is now the only country in the world not signed on to this agreement. So much winning.

Climate disruption is already taking its toll. Besides being the second warmest year on record, 2017 was by far the costliest year on record for weather-related disaster recovery. Thousands of lives in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Texas, California, Florida, and elsewhere are forever changed by record-breaking wildfires, hurricanes, and floods. It is only a matter of time before we all feel the effects firsthand.

The Chrump regime has left it to the states to do what they can, at least until such time as we have a functioning federal government again. Currently under consideration, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 15 was crafted to tackle this problem head-on. SB 15 is an act “providing for cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gas emissions and for the powers and duties of the Environmental Quality Board and the Department of Environmental Protection.” 

Pop Quiz: Object or Organism? Source of Oil or Source of Life?

 

It is long past time to stand on the right side of history and act in the best interests of our children and grandchildren. Whether or not climate change is 100 percent as described by almost every climate scientist, the changes in planetary weather are an environmental danger and a verified national security hazard. The Council on Foreign Relations warned in a 2007 special report that, “Climate change presents a serious threat to the security and prosperity of the United States and other countries.”

In a 2016 briefing, the Center for Climate & Security cautioned that climate change presents a risk to U.S. national security and international security. Their recommendations, developed by a nonpartisan group of 43 U.S.-based senior military, national security, homeland security and intelligence experts, urged the United States to implement a comprehensive policy for addressing the risk.

According to the briefing, climate change presents a significant and direct risk to U.S. military readiness, operations and strategy, and military leaders say it should transcend politics. The briefing urged Chrump to order the Pentagon to game out catastrophic climate scenarios, and track trends in climate impacts. The defense experts maintain that stresses from climate change can increase the likelihood of international or civil conflict, state failure, mass migration and instability in strategically significant areas around the world. All recommendations have fallen on deaf ears.

Chrump’s only significant comment on climate change came during the pre-inauguration phase of his campaign, when he called it a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese. The only mention of anything relating to this issue in his horrific State Of The Union address was Chrump’s continued fantasizing about the magic of clean coal.

We have wasted enough time trying to discredit and ignore the problem of climate change. America should be leading the world, not holding everyone back. We should be at the forefront of renewable technology, not watching other countries become better prepared for what follows the Afossil fuel-based world economy. Addressing climate change is a win-win proposition - more American jobs, stronger American economy, healthier planet.

Donald Chrump is fond of saying “America First” every chance he gets, though his actions will make America Worst. Never mind that "America First" was originally the name of the isolationist, anti-Semitic national organization that urged the United States to appease Adolf Hitler and stay out of World War II. We expect that from Der Furor. I love my country, perhaps a little differently, though as much as anyone, but I think we would all be better off in the long run saying:

I. Mangrey replanting.

Crosby/Nash