His stance is clear, Trump no ‘champion of the environment’
For only the second time in history, scientistswere recently tracking five cyclones in the Atlantic. Two hurricanes have nowravaged the Gulf Coast in less than a month; hurricanes that scientists agree are growing more powerful and dangerous because of climate change. More than five million acres have burned across California, Oregon andWashington aswe see the death toll and damage from these climate fires continue to rise. In South Florida, Miami is the most vulnerable coastal cityworldwide, with rising sea levels, storm surges and toxic algae from red tides.
Climate change is real, it’s here, and it’s impacting our daily lives right now.
Even as the climate crisis’s toll becomes more apparent every day, Donald Trump, the most anti-science and anti-climate president in our history, continues to deny the existence of climate change and even basic science. It costs jobs and even lives.
Twoweeks ago, Trump came down to Florida to announce a ban on offshore drilling and proclaimed himself a “champion of the environment.” This cannot be further fromthe truth. President Trump has rolled back100 vital environmental protections, and he will be the first president in history to end his term with fewer public lands protected than when he took office.
Florida voters cannot trust Trump when it comes to drilling. Last year, he proposed opening nearly allU.S. waters to drilling. Earlier this year, leaks fromthe administration indicated that they still wished tomove forward with drilling off Florida’s coasts, butwere shelving the plan until after the election. This is nothing more than an election-year bait-andswitch.
True to form, Trump quicklywent from
“champion of the environment” back to climate denier as soon as he left Florida. During a visit to California to get briefed on the catastrophic wildfires ravaging theWest Coast, Trump flat out denied climate change, its role in the wildfires, and even touted global “cooling.” This all comes after a deafening silence from the administration for over threeweeks as the fires continued to spread.
We knowthe effects that humans have on the environment, and it is communities like mine that are left to bear the brunt of it. Since getting elected to office, Trump has filled his government with former oil, gas and coal lobbyists and put them in charge of dismantling protections for our clean air, cleanwater and the climate.
Meanwhile, people of color are more likely to live near toxic facilities producing toxins— shortening our lifespan. All of this is exacerbated by a devastating global pandemic and a president who continues to lie to the American people about COVID-19 and climate change.
Since the start of his presidency, President Trump has lied roughly 500 times about environmental issues. Trump has chosen to ignore the gravity of the climate crisis, deflect blame to protect fossil fuel interests, and when all else fails, he denies the existence of climate change and attacks science.
President Trump can’t have it both ways. He can’t pretend to be a champion for the environment and deny the effects or even the existence of climate change. This sort of negligence on one of the greatest crisis facing the country and our planet must be called out and corrected.