Vote For the Environment

I’m really angry at people who claim they’re for the environment, yet they’re going to vote for Trump and/or any other Republican (forever, as it now stands) and thereby destroy it.  I’m speaking about the environmental aspects of Project 2025 which most people think is just something Trump will implement.  He’ll implement it if he becomes President again, no doubt, but every other Republican candidate up and down the ballot believes in it too, and will do whatever they can to implement it.  It was actually, in all its awful aspects, developed by the Heritage Foundation to take advantage of some unlimited powers at the President’s disposal.  Some legislation would be required to keep it implemented but it can proceed in advance of that.

Now, for environmentally minded people, Project 2025 is a plan to change our government to implement radical conservative wishes.  It will eliminate the EPA and our ability to stop chemicals that are dangerous from entering the environment, along with everything else the EPA does (for example, reviewing development plans to ensure our land, flora and fauna, including ourselves, are not damaged by those developments).  Another example: it also adds plants and animals to the endangered species list and reviews and approves plans for their recovery.  Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton are both examples of how weather is worse now and will continue to get worse if Project 2025 is implemented.

Project 2025 will also skew our energy development for the advantage of energy millionaires and billionaires by pushing drilling for energy everywhere, which would destroy public lands including forests, grasslands, arctic tundra.  The plan would actually stop the development of renewable energy sources even though those sources are now cheaper than oil and gas (per kilowatt hour or BTU).  As an example of it’s further stupidity, oil has a minimum price at which it’s worth developing more of it.  We’re currently near that price so that it would be wasting money and driving up the actual cost of oil, once all the taxes and costs to the economy are accounted for.  If you include the costs of destroyed land and water it’s completely ridiculous.

Project 2025 would destroy our land and water, as well as pollute the air both directly in the production of oil and gas and in its use to produce energy (CO2, methane, acid rain, ozone, and on and on).  We need that land to clean our water and produce clean air, we need clean water to support all flora and fauna including ourselves.  We need clean air just like everything else that breathes .  We need trees and the animals that support them to maintain reasonable temperatures. And, finally, we need reasonable temperatures which Project 2025 would destroy.  There are many other horrible environmental aspects to Project 2025 (e.g., can you believe the return of toxic ash, from coal, stored in ponds that rupture and kill everything downstream from them).  Project 2025 is an environmental horror  which we cannot afford no matter what else is considered.

So, I’m angry at anyone who claims they care for the environment yet will vote for Trump and/or any other Republican.  Some claim they’re not going to do this-some foolish elected Republicans may even believe it-but if you examine the history they vote in lockstep with their leadership, the leadership which is part of the radical conservatives determined to destroy our environment and to lock us into incredibly destructive energy sources.

So, why shouldn’t I be angry?