Climate Crisis Crisis

Looking For Intelligent Life on Earth

June 21, 2019, Summer Solstice

I hate to dredge up the distant past, in fact, I am loathe to dredge up or even look at just about anything these days – including the future – for fear that Chrump will lumber into the picture.  However, if I hope to have anything to say here at chez Paying Attention, I must keep my eyes peeled, my ears to the ground and my nose to the grindstone.

I. Mangrey, hard at work

Drool, Baby Drool

Long, long ago, in June of 2017, Chrump hosted a group of Native American tribal leaders at the White House and urged them to ignore federal laws forbidding them to drill on tribal land and “just do it,” referring to extracting whatever they want from the land they control.

The chiefs explained to Chrump that there were regulatory barriers preventing them from doing what Chrump was advising.  The Criminal-in-chief replied, “But now it’s me.  The government’s different now. Obama’s gone; and we’re doing things differently here.”

According to a reporter on the scene, the tribal leaders were taken aback, looked at each other, and seemed uncertain about how to proceed.  This confused the tiny-brained president who turned to one of the tribal leaders saying, “Chief, chief, what are they going to do? Once you get it out of the ground are they going to make you put it back in there? I mean, once it’s out of the ground it can’t go back in there. You’ve just got to do it. I’m telling you, chief, you’ve just got to do it.”

For those of you keeping score, that was the so-called President of the United States blithely telling people to break the law.  Not the first time and not the last.

The Native American leaders still weren’t sure whether the president was serious.  After all, Native Americans should always be skeptical of American presidents.  Chrump reiterated his suggestion to engage in criminal activity.  “Guys, I feel like you’re not hearing me right now.  We’ve just got to do it. I feel like we’ve got no choice; other countries are just doing it.  China is not asking questions about all of this stuff. They’re just doing it. And guys, we’ve just got to do it.”  There was no report any of the chiefs saying, “What do you mean we, white man?”

The Beating Goes On

But that was a long time ago.  With Chrump in the White House, I feel like I know now what dog years are like.  Here are a few environmental tidbits in honor of the Summer Solstice – the beginning of the shortening of daylight, and in horror of the beginning of a whole different level of darkness, the Chrump administration’s ongoing efforts to end human life on Earth.

During his fake re-launch of the campaign-that-never-ended, Donald Chrump told his reality-averse audience, “Our air and water are the cleanest they’ve ever been by far.”  That of course, is what is known in the business as horseshit.  Pure. Unadulterated. Transparent. Soul-crushing. Horse. Shit.  As it turns out, according to the American Lung Association, things have gotten measurably worse in the last two years (after years of improvement during Obama's tenure), since the Toxic Orange Gas Cloud began enveloping Washington, DC and all of planet Earth.  Four-in-ten Americans are now breathing unsafe air, as the Chrump administration rolls back environmental rules and regulations – 83 so far.

Twenty-nine experts who comprise the European Academies'Science Advisory Council (EASAC) have reported what most of us already know: climate crisis not only poses major threats to human health in the future, its effects are already here.  Their latest report explains that our accelerating climate crises is already creating global problems by spreading infectious diseases and exacerbating mental health problems.  I am happy to say that I am not suffering from an infectious disease due to climate crisis.  My attorney has advised me not to talk about my mental health.  The council’s report stated, “Climate change is already contributing to the burden of disease and premature mortality.  Without prompt and effective action, the problems are forecast to worsen considerably.”  

Cooooooooooooooooooooooooal

Chrump’s Environmental Prevention Agency, always ready to do their part on the climate front, recently paved the way for states to set theirown carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants.  One could excuse a brainless sociopath like Chrump for not knowing that air and water do not obey state boundaries.  However, one would like to expect more from the EPA, which acknowledges that this change could result in 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030 than the Obama-era plan it will replace.  Someone should remind the addled Chrump that he has a young son who, no matter how much money he inherits (probably not very much by the time his old man drops dead of a fast food overdose), he still has to breathe the same air as everyone else, though I am sure he will look fetching in his gold-plated gas mask. 

Further efforts to support climate crisis acceleration found the White House blocking a State Department intelligence agency from submitting testimony to the House Intel Committee stating that climate change is “possibly catastrophic.”  This gives further credence – as if this was needed – to the scientifically proven fact that Donald Chrump is “unquestionably catastrophic.”

Hermit crab frolicking on garbage-laden remote beach in its new plastic “shell”

Chrump’s Department of Energy recently put out a press release authorizing new natural gas exports.  The release referred to the gas as “freedom gas.”  In the press release Steven Winberg, who serves as the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, additionally characterized the gas as "molecules of freedom."  Now it seems that freedom is just another word for nothing left at all.

But Wait, There’s More…

And, in a somewhat related matter, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (Mrs. Bitch McConnell) has kept shares in Vulcan Materials, “the country’s largest supplier of the crushed stone, sand and gravel used in road-paving and building” more than a year after promising to divest, collecting more than $40,000 in investment gains along the way, according to the Wall Street Journal.  Not many people know this, but roads are often used for transportation.   

Speaking of more, there will probably be another dozen or so stories like these by the time I finish writing this…there always are, and even more by the time you see this.  Just sayin’.

Finally, Some Good News

There are still some in government with functioning hearts and minds.  Not obvious, but true.  These almost mythical creatures attempting to put the brakes on Chrump Change.  More than a dozen states are pushing theirown bills to wean electricity systems off fossil fuels. Also, there is an ever-growing list of cities that have vowed to kick their fossil-fuel addiction.  Ryan Fitzpatrick, deputy director of the clean energy Program at the think tank Third Way said, “We couldn’t update our maps fast enough.  These states know that net zero emissions by 2050 is the goal, and there’s no time to waste. So they’re taking a minute to celebrate, then asking, ‘what’s next?’”  If they do not hurry up, what’s next will be ‘duck and cover.’



I. Mangrey reporting.