Demand a Stop to Attacks on EPA, Endangered Species Act, Science and Denial of Climate Change

I am ashamed to say that we are now living in a country where there is a concerted attack on anything beneficial and supportive of the environment, ecology, animals and plants and science. The EPA and Endangered Species Act are being dismantled. Climate change is being denied or minimized. War is being declared on many species
vital to a healthy, thriving ecosystem such as wolves. Wolves, bears, and other animals are targeted largely because they allegedly interfere with rancher’s unrestricted control and use of the environment (often public land) for their cattle to run roughshod over and decimate as they graze. Bees, vital to our agriculture, are being wiped out by dangerous pesticides.

Citizens United is an ironic title for a policy which gives rights to corporations as if they were people. In actuality, their political influence and power outstrips individual rights. With massive amounts of money and influence, they can and do buy elections and politicians and usurp the will of the people. These corporations and their bought and paid for politicians show no regard for welfare of the people, only being concerned with short term profits and elections.

Congress is pushing for the removal of the protections of the Endangered Species Act for wolves and other animals. Some states are pursuing this also urged on by ranchers.
An Appeals Court lifted protections for Wyoming wolves. They will now be subjected even more to trapping and trophy hunting.

[Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man -
S Chopenhauer]

An illustration of the importance of wolves to the ecosystem below is from “Earthjustice”.

In the 1920’s, government policy allowed the extermination of Yellowstone’s gray wolf
-the apex predator - triggering an ecosystem collapse known as trophic cascade. [the
ecosystem was dying]. Elk populations exploded without their primary predator,
resulting in severe overgrazing of willows and aspen needed by beavers for food,
shelter, and dam building. [Beavers play an important role in creating and enhancing
habitat for many other species of plants and animals.]
Various scavenger species (i.e. eagle, bear, raven) suffered without year-round wolf
kills to feed on. Beavers virtually disappeared in the northern range. Dams
disintegrated turning marshy ponds into streams resulting in massive loss of mature
willows and aspens, and heavy stream erosion. Many plant and animal species were
affected. Without wolves, coyotes became an apex predator, driving down
populations of prong horn antelope, red fox, and rodents, and birds that prey on small
animals.
In 1995 - through use of the Endangered Species Act - the conservation community
reintroduced the gray wolf to restore balance. The impact was dramatic. [The entire
Yellowstone ecosystem began to recover from the damage caused by human
intervention. After wolf reintroduction in the northern range, elk numbers dropped
and beaver colonies increased from 1 to 12. Insects, songbirds, fish, and
amphibians thrived. [Wary elk spent less time in one place allowing saplings and
other plants to grow]. As the wolf returned, coyote numbers dropped by half,
allowing antelope, rodent, and fox populations to increase. Today, biodiversity is
enriched [and restored].

The following information about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is from the Environmental Defense Fund.

The Environmental Protection Agency has restored healthier air and cleaner water for millions of Americans. But the Trump administration is reportedly proposing a cut of 25% to the agency’s budget, which would severely damage its ability to keep protecting American families.
The White House claims the cuts are to save money, but EPA’s entire budget is only 0.2% of total federal spending. As the Republican chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho) said, there’s “not that much in the EPA [budget] for crying out loud.”
But most importantly, as former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy put it, “This budget is a fantasy if this administration believes it will preserve EPA’s mission to protect public health.” The truth is these cuts are an excuse to reduce environmental enforcement, as current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt did as attorney general of Oklahoma.
So for those who have forgotten the value of EPA’s mission, here are ten facts to remember and share:
230,000: Lives saved each year by EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Act in 2020.
2.4 million: Asthma attacks prevented each year by EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Act in 2020.
22.4 million: Avoided lost school or work days each year due to EPA’s implementation of the Clean Air Act in 2020.
30-1: Ratio of benefits to costs– the Clean Air Act provides $30 in health benefits for every $1 invested in compliance.
1,308: Number of enforcement actions concluded in fiscal year 2016 under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.
62 billion: Pounds of hazardous waste EPA enforcement actions required companies to commit to treat, minimize, or properly dispose of in fiscal year 2016.
190 million: Cubic yards of contaminated soil and groundwater cleanup commitments secured in fiscal year 2016 alone (enough to fill the Empire State Building over 138 times).
40,000: Pounds of toxic mercury cut from coal plants by the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule.

The following about climate change, I wrote after the election around thanksgiving (when there didn’t appear to be much to be thankful for - ant it’s looking worse now.)

We’re in the midst of the worst ecological extinction event and collapse and die off of species since the death of the dinosaurs from a giant meteor collision with the planet. However, this one is largely human caused. This extinction event, known as the “sixth extinction” (due to the recognition of 5 previous major extinction events in the earth’s history) is expected to result in the loss of at least one-half to two-thirds of the species on the planet. That climate change is real and a dangerous threat is known and acknowledged by virtually all in the science community. The only deniers are those who swallowed the lies and disinformation from the exploiting energy oil and coal. Companies, such as Exxon-Mobil, and those people financed and bribed by them. Those politicians who defy Exxon-Mobil, other fossil fuel companies, and their backers, and admit to climate change, are threatened with withdrawal of their huge financial support and even with support of a challenger to their congressional office or position.

Stephen Hawking recently predicted that humans will not survive on the earth for as much as 1000 years more. He feels that our best hope for long term survival will be to colonize Mars and move out to other planets. However, can humans be expected to terraform Mars when we can’t even work to save our own terraformed planet.

Coral reefs are dying off, including the Great Barrier Reef, due to rise in sea water temperature and increased acidity of the oceans due to increase in carbon dioxide levels in the water. Trees are being killed off in mass by harmful insects which previously had died off with the long winter freezes. These attackers are moving northward every year and destroying entire forests of trees. With their death, these trees, which absorbed and stored CO2, now provide fuel for ever larger and more frequent fires and droughts. Animals and plants can often adapt to natural slow changes over generations, but these changes are coming more and more rapidly. Species such as seals and sea lions, produce their young as in previous years, only to starve when they find their prey moved to coller water or reproduced earlier and further north. Birds nest to find their food source is now out of sync with their time line having peaked weeks ealier.

That extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe should be obvious. The melting of the polar ice caps and Greenland ice sheet and threat of sea level rise to island nations and low lying cities and lands should raise a red flag.

The Paris Climate Accord was a long delayed and insufficient start. But even this inadequate response is threatened by self-serving, short sighted deniers such as President Trump and his cabinet.

Donald Trump has been accused of being inconsistent. But his cabinet choices and aides appear very consistent. He is vindictive, greedy, and selfish and is surrounding himself with greedy selfish wealthy people who deny the existence of any facts and views which are not in line with their beliefs. His chief advisor is a neo-nazi bigot supported by the KKK. His choice to head the EPA is a climate denier who wants to do away with the EPA; and so on down the line. His choice for Secretary of State was the
CEO of Exxon-Mobil and friend of Putin and Russia.
The United States military has concluded that the country’s biggest threat is from climate change. Extreme weather events like drought and flooding are uprooting large populations. The resulting displacement, suffering, joblessness, and starvation are feeding extremist groups and ideologies. Virtually all of the problems facing this country
and the world are being exacerbated by climate change. Trump has said this is bunk and plans to punish and replace our military leaders with those in agreement with his distorted views. It is not surprising that he has not bothered to attend intelligence briefings. After all, he knows more than anyone in the intelligence community.

Any international Trade agreements should only be accepted if the following criteria are met. These would be monitored for compliance.
1.) Environmental safeguards and standards are required and monitored. Protecting and enhancing the environment as well as combatting and preventing global climate change is expected.
2.) Workers in all signatory countries will be provided a decent living wage and safe working conditions.
3.) Workers will be provided adequate health care access.

These criteria would ensure a balanced playing field and would help prevent loss of employment opportunities in any of the signatory countries, including the U.S., while protecting the environment and workers and saving the planet. This would be a win-win-win situation; a win for working conditions around the world; a win for U.S. workers; and a win for the environment.


Humans in their blissful denial are giving lemmings a bad name. We’re all on a driverless train speeding down an ever steepening mountain heading toward a cliff.
Or, in actuality, we’ve already plunged off that cliff and are in free fall. We’re enjoying the feeling of weightlessness and the wind in our face like a dog with his head out the car window. No worries till we hit the ground.