Even if you live in a virtual cave, you can’t have missed the ongoing stories about how Trump is gutting America’s environmental protection agencies and laws, forcing out scientists and researchers, defunding projects, negating scientific reports and advice, and generally dismissing climate change as a “hoax.” So much accumulated knowledge, deliberately scattered to the four winds.
One could dismiss everything else he’s done and still consider this reason enough to vote him out of office next November. Experts say it will take many years to repair the damage he’s done, reassembling research teams, restarting projects, rebuilding federal agencies. Not to mention the environment itself, which in many cases may be irreparable.
The New York Times covers this topic in considerable detail today in “Science Under Attack: How Trump Is Sidelining Researchers and Their Work.” It will make you cry. Or should.
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I don’t need to read the NYT article, I’ve been (metaphorically) crying for 3 years now.
It’s even worse than I thought. But I quit following this topic a long time ago because it was so depressing. Don’t know why I subjected myself to this topic again. As bad as it sounds, I doubt it will change any minds.
Well, it’s certainly spurred us to attending more local actions. Perhaps folks are waking up to the reality that “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” (With any luck?)
We can hope. But I’m not holding my breath. We humans might survive his presidency, but much of what we love may have been lost.
Can’t hope without breath. The alternative isn’t all that enticing. True about what’s been lost. Makes me sick to think about it. Best to just contribute any way we can to make amends.