It’s no secret Donald Trump’s biggest concern is not the preservation of our planet. If there’s any indication by his tweets, he doesn't acknowledge its existence at all. Donald can deny it all he wants, but the facts remain: global climate change is real. It is a problem, and if we don’t fix the way we’re disbursing emissions into the atmosphere, our planet will become inhabitable in the next few millennia.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon proposed the idea of creating a government agency for the purpose of protecting the environment and human health. The Environmental Projection Agency (EPA) has been condensing runoff and emission output levels, and controlling toxicity levels in water, air, and food ever since. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide output levels have been down since 2005 on the eastern half of the United States. These reports are the direct result of laws the EPA have implemented on the country (Nitrogen Oxide Budget Trading Program, Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), etc). Donald Trump has the potential to undo all of the progress the EPA has made in America throughout the decades. Twenty-five percent of its employees will be laid off due to the budget cuts Trump has proposed. Not to mention the EPA programs that will be defunded including the restoration of the Great Lakes, climate protection, and water quality research.
After being elected into office, President Trump named Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. There are several things wrong with this choice. First off, Pruitt is now suing the EPA. Yes, I will repeat that. The department head of the EPA is suing the EPA. He claims they were misconstruing information about climate change. Pruitt takes the stand that climate change is a myth even though there is clear scientific evidence relating to the rise in the average global temperature. The EPA was then forced to take down everything about global climate change on their website, which is absurd. Secondly, Scott Pruitt is the attorney general from Oklahoma, an oil and gas-intensive state. Obviously, both Pruitt and Trump would have a lot to gain if gas and oil companies in Oklahoma weren’t held to such high environmental standards. These men are trying to cut corners to reap a profit and they’re getting away with it. The ironic thing is Scott Pruitt has spent a large portion of his career fighting the very industry he’s now running. Donald Trump is clearly a person who only makes decisions for his own personal gain. In fifty years, he won’t be alive to see the effects of the choices he made when he was in office. In his eyes, living environmentally friendly is a costly decision that he’s not willing to make. God knows he has the money to be eco-friendly. The corporate leaders of this country need to step up and do their part in conserving the Earth since our elected officials aren’t doing theirs. I care about this planet, I don’t want to see it destroyed. Everyday I make conscious decisions to be environmentally-friendly, and I hope to see other Americans doing the same.
