On Tuesday night, I began to watch the election results come in, elated by the prospect of electing our first female president. But instead, I watched my worst nightmare. I watched xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, and racism win the election. Donald Trump is simply a figurehead for a much larger problem in America, the division of our people. I’ve always believed that we, as human beings, want similar things. We want to promote love, peace, faith, justice, and above all, protect the rights of all those who inhabit our country. That is something I think most people can agree on. But whom we collectively elected on Tuesday night does not meet those values in my opinion.
But as Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have said, we must continue on and be supportive of our President Elect. I think that a great way to show support is through mutual education and correction. So I’d like to bring to light what Trump plans to do about the environment, or more specifically what he doesn’t plan to do. As outlined in his plan for his first one hundred days in office, he has stated:
“* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure”
All of these decisions will diminish, if not remove, the progress made under the Obama administration. He also has been reported as allegedly picking Myron Ebell, a well-known climate skeptic, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. This would only add to the detrimental list of negative effects on the environment under a Trump presidency.
The implications of ignoring climate change are irreversible, but grassroots organization has already begun to hold Trump accountable for his choices. The power of the people is much stronger than we think and the shock of this outcome has only seemed to ignite response. Personally, I hope to live in a country that isn’t viciously divided on every issue, but in stable compromise for the good of future generations.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Written by Emma Briggs, Class of 2018