By: Tracey MacDermott
NFBPWC Environment and Sustainable Development Committee Chair (2024-2026)

Back to the Past

What A Second Trump Presidency Could Mean, And What We Must Do

This opinion piece was originally published in The Greater Park Hill News, where the author is a monthly columnist. Previous columns can be found here:

http://greaterparkhill.org/?s=tracey+macdermott

On election day, the citizens of the United States voted a climate denier into the highest office in the land.

There is no way to spin a positive with Donald Trump as president when it comes to the environment. His own words make a mockery of the biggest existential threat to humanity. He calls climate change a “big hoax.” He has targeted the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the signature bill of the Biden administration and the biggest climate legislation ever enacted by the United States. Trump wants to dismantle it. And for a second time, he has promised to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

During his first presidency, Trump’s mantra — “Drill, baby, drill” — was a call to open up federal lands to production of oil, natural gas and coal. His positions on federal lands, including selling them to private developers, mirrors the positions detailed in the hard-right Project 2025 manifesto.

In his first term, Trump shrunk Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante and other national monuments. He replaced the Clean Power Plan with a weaker regulation. He repealed the Clean Water Rule and wreaked havoc on more than 100 environmental regulations. What should we expect from this second term? Frankly, more of the same.

How we respond to this new administration’s policies is up to us. Will we have the courage to speak out and fight for the future of our shared planet?

I hope so. I do believe in the power of community. I believe in this community. Rise up, fight for what we can still save and let’s work together to secure a future for our kids. Push back on anyone who tells you we can’t, because together, we can.

(Read the full article at: https://greaterparkhill.org/earth-in-crisis-back-to-the-past/ )