Another Degree Hotter: Massive Deregulation Campaign in the EPA
Climate Change is no longer a concern for the government of the United States
We had a microburst storm the other day.
I’d been sitting in an air-conditioned room of my home, working with one of my business partners on designing a new line of jewelry.
After a brief detour to unbox some new mail, I looked up to the sight of the power flickering, and a roar like the heavens opened up over our heads. It was rain, pounding so heavily on the roof that we could almost feel the vibrations.
We ran downstairs as quickly as we could, rushing out into the deluge to collect up potted plants and bring them inside the garage for shelter so they wouldn’t be blown away by the wind.
Microbursts are essentially tiny hurricanes.
They hit without warning, and they can do a lot of damage — I nearly lost a friend that way a few years ago. A microburst took a tree down in front of his car. Had he been driving even a little faster, it would have smashed his windshield and crushed him instead of just denting in the hood of his car.
Thankfully, even though they’re incredibly dangerous they’re also fairly short lived events. This one lasted only a few minutes or so, and after it passed the sun came out and the air was pleasantly cold.
It felt delicious after the rolling heatwaves we’ve had for the past month.
The weather where I live has changed a lot since I was a kid. I remember needing a snowsuit over my costume to go trick or treating on Halloween, as there was nearly always snow in late October.
Now, we’re lucky to see snow in December.
Climate Change has hit us brutally hard. You don’t see many people here who think it’s all an overblown hoax — the reality of it is obvious and impossible to miss.
We know how vital it is to work towards sustainability. It’s too bad our hopes have been utterly dashed. Trump doesn’t care about Climate Change. He doesn’t care about nature, and his recent cuts to the EPA prove his disdain all too well.
Even though we’re in Atlantic Canada, the choices made by the President of the United States can seriously impact our situation.
The United States is one of the wealthiest, largest and most powerful nations on Earth.
When it comes to carbon emissions, it’s in the top 5 worst contributing countries. It’s near the top of the list; one step behind China. This is important because, as we know, carbon emissions and other atmospheric pollutants are one of the biggest drivers of Climate Change.
Fighting Climate Change and reducing carbon emissions is a global battle, one which a few major countries are involved in. Most of the time there’s a lot of hot air being blown up a lot of arses; promises made, promises ignored, new deals made that prioritize business over our wellbeing.
It is understood by most that if the top most polluting countries don’t get their act together, we’ll be screwed.
Still, some smaller countries have made strides towards trying to offset some of the major damage and place regulations on their industries to reduce further harm. This is a start, but nowhere near enough.
Most scientists agree that we’re past the point of prevention. There’s no stopping the runaway train at this point; we’re decades behind schedule, and the end of the tracks — that is, the temperature increase wherein parts of the world become uninhabitable — is fast approaching.
We’re beyond prevention, and we’re solidly in the period of mitigation. We’re not trying to stop it, that’s a lost cause. We’re just trying to slow it down enough that most of us will survive impact in the short term.
Unfortunately, there is no way we’re going to make that deadline. Not with how the largest polluter countries are behaving.
Certainly not with Donald Trump in charge of the United States.
The Environmental Protection Agency in the United States is a critical department.
It is responsible for regulations, planning infrastructure and protecting people from environmental contaminants. It exists to try and keep the environment as clean and safe as possible, both for wildlife and for people.
It can’t do that job right now because Trump’s government is scrapping it for parts.
Just a few days ago it was announced that the research and development arm of the EPA is about to be amputated; they are eliminating the department and gutting the agency of over 3,700 jobs.
This comes after the end of Chevron Deference which neutered the power of the EPA substantially. The Supreme Court of the United States has been hard at work dismantling the protections and regulatory policies put in place to keep people safe and corporations in check.
Back in March, SCOTUS decreed that the EPA should be ignored in matters of drinking water safety — they undermined the Clean Water Act, which gave powers to the EPA to place rules on pollutants in your drinking water.
I wrote an article on the subject back then. It is even more relevant now.
Life After The Chevron Doctrine: Don't Drink The Water, America
On June 28th, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States overruled the Chevron Deference ruling.
The EPA regulates everything from drinking water, pesticide use and the disposal of hazardous waste. It conducts research on chemicals and other potentially dangerous contamination — or, at least, it used to.
It was the bulwark protecting you from corporate greed. Any time a major company was tempted to cut corners and spill something dangerous into the ecosystem that could make you or your loved ones ill, the EPA’s regulations were there to try and hold them accountable.
It didn’t really succeed at protecting people all that well, but it was at least present and that was its goal.
But under Trump, the government is not trying to protect you at all, they’re protecting business profits.
It’s cheaper to cut corners, so they want to remove the barriers stopping corporations from getting away with that.
This extends to fossil fuel use and carbon emissions.
We’ve all heard Trump’s chatter about ‘drill, baby, drill’ and his repeated rhetoric about expanding the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and natural gas. He has railed in the past about Climate Change regulations being bad for business, and even used to repeat the nonsense claim about windmills killing birds.
I did the math on that one back in the day. Windmills don’t kill many birds at all.
Feel free to use my article to rebuke any morons who try to repeat that claim at you.
And now, he is systematically cutting pieces of the EPA off and replacing it with new rules. Focusing solely on air and water doesn’t effectively cover all of the safety concerns the EPA used to handle.
It just sounds nice on paper, which is all Trump cares about.
He’s all about image. Smoke and mirrors hiding horror.
In the aftermath of our little microburst storm, I’m pleased to report we’re all fine.
Our plants survived, the house wasn’t damaged, and my baby apple trees — while a bit thrashed — are still standing.
I returned to my design work after a bit of fuss, collecting pictures and sketches for a mood board. It’s a key part of designing for a project; building a collage of imagery I can refer back to as I work on bringing my ideas to life.
This line is all about the ocean.
I’m staring at gorgeous coral reefs, darting fish, streaming kelp and scuttling crabs. I’m looking at octopuses altering their forms to camouflage with their landscape. They’re beautiful, inquisitive creatures with bright minds. They’ll be a central theme in some of the pieces.
With every slide I look at, I’m struck by the beauty and creativity of nature. There’s nothing linear about it. It’s a cacophony of colour and motion, a symphony of delight for the eye.
Nature is like that. From the deep sea to the deep forest, everything is wild and organic and untamed.
Quite apart from being beautiful, it’s also vital for our survival. We can’t live without it. Protecting it is the same as protecting ourselves; no animal can exist without its habitat.
We’re kidding ourselves if we think there’ll be no consequences for our disruptions.
Climate Change is here, it’s doing damage and it’s not going away. Departments like the EPA exist to try and protect us from harm, but they are being stymied and cut apart.
Major polluting countries like the United States aren’t doing enough to offset the damage — and in some cases, are actively trying to make it worse.
It breaks my heart. It probably breaks yours.
We only have a few more years to try and correct course… and unfortunately, at this rate, we’re not going to make it in time.
Solidarity wins.
I agree. I think humans have pushed the planet past the point of no return. All we can do now is work with what we have to survive what's coming.
As for the U.S., it is possible to turn a few things around once Trump is gone but the longer his sits behind that desk, the more damage he will do. There will come a point when there is no coming back from all of the damage.
I am now really starting to believe that the U.S. is on its last legs. I am watching everything come undone and I ask myself nearly everyday, am I going to live to see the complete collapse or will I be gone when it finally happens. But mark my words. It is going to happen. I just hope that it doesn't happen so quickly that the other nations of the world don't have time to get out of the way when the mountain collapses.