Connect with us

On Earth Day, Trump Celebrates ‘Beautiful Forests, Lakes and Land’ as His Administration Threatens Beautiful Forests, Lakes and Land

Published

on

Trump Called Climate Change A Hoax

The National Resource Defense Council Considers Trump’s Administration an “Assault on our Environment and Health”

As tens of thousands participated in the March for Science across the globe today, Donald Trump released an official statement on Earth Day.

“Our Nation is blessed with abundant natural resources and awe-inspiring beauty,” the statement reads. “Americans are rightly grateful for these God-given gifts and have an obligation to safeguard them for future generations.” 

“My Administration is committed to keeping our air and water clean,” it continues, “to preserving our forests, lakes, and open spaces, and to protecting endangered species.”

The president also echoed the statement in a tweet:

The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) disagrees with the president’s sentiments, however. The NRDC, which combines the “power of more than two million members and online activists with the expertise of some 500 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe,” considers the Trump administration an “assault on our environment and health… unlike any threat we’ve ever faced.”

Rhea Suh, president of the NRDC, discussed what’s at stake with the Trump administration’s stance on protecting the environment in the video below:

“The resources that we use today, we don’t inherit from our ancestors,” wildlife biologist and television host Jeff Corwin said on MSNBC. “We borrow from our children. And the Trump administration is preparing to rob the bank.” The full exchange can be seen below, with Irwin discussing the threats the administration poses to the environment, including endangered species:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0qX1Aj0r0 

Furthermore, Donald Trump appointed Scott Pruitt as the Head of the Environmental Protection Agency—an agency he spent years suing. Rick Perry, who said he wanted to abolish the Department of Energy, was appointed by Trump to be the Secretary of Energy.

As The Huffington Post pointed out, the Trump administration has repealed regulations protecting U.S. waterways from coal mining operations, signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the Clean Water Rule, removed regulations requiring oil and gas companies to detail the amount of greenhouse gases they emit, removed the word “science” from the EPA’s Office of Science and Technology mission statement, and proposed “deep and swinging cuts” to the EPA. (All of this, and more, as Earth reaches a CO2 level not seen in 3 million years.)

Arguably, the Trump administration’s actions are not surprising—considering that Donald Trump called climate change, which 97% of climate scientists agree is a result of human activity, a concept created “by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

“This April 22nd, as we observe Earth Day,” the president’s statement concludes, “I hope that our Nation can come together and give thanks for the land we all love and call home.” (Trump did not make reference to the tens of thousands who were doing so today.)

 

To comment on this article and other NCRM content, visit our Facebook page.

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Melania Trump Hails Herself as a ‘Visionary’ at Women’s History Month Event

Published

on

First Lady Melania Trump, in remarks at a White House Women’s History Month celebration, hailed herself as a “visionary” as she gave advice to guests.

“As a visionary, I know success is not born overnight, but rather takes shape after long, and sometimes challenging process,” the First Lady said. She also described herself as “a mother, humanitarian, philanthropist, and entrepreneur.”

Mrs. Trump also mentioned her new film, “Melania,” saying that she “shaped its creative direction, served as a producer, managed post production and activated the marketing campaign.”

Noting that “curiosity is a core value” that keeps her “ahead of the curve,” she said that her “unrestricted mindset” has led her to “build across very different sectors,” including, “fashion, digital assets, publishing, accessories, skincare, commercial television, and of course, filmmaking.”

Sharing advice and personal experience, Mrs. Trump told the audience, “Often alone at the top, I follow my passion. Listen to my instincts, and always maintain a laser focus.”

She also declared that the “strength of America is closely tied to the role women play in shaping their children’s character, education, and morals. The values cultivated within our communities shape the voice and vision of our next generation.”

“A woman’s influence strengthens our democracy, capital markets, and time-tested business institutions,” she said. “Across the country today, women are finding unique ways to balance career, ambition, and family.”

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

‘Seems to Be No Plan’ Expert Says on Trump Securing Iran’s Nuclear Material to End War

Published

on

President Donald Trump says he is bombing Iran so it “does not obtain a nuclear weapon,” but a veteran nuclear policy expert is blasting his war strategy, warning there appears to be no plan to secure Iran’s nuclear stockpile — a failure that could leave the U.S. in the “worst of all worlds” while Iran is “holding all the nuclear cards.”

“This may be the worst planned war in history,” Joe Cirincione told Mother Jones. “I see no sign that they knew what they were doing. It seemed to be just literally bomb, bomb, bomb. There didn’t seem to be a plan for how you were going to get at that particular material. If there is one, it hasn’t emerged.”

He warns, “there seems to be no plan for how to end this war.”

“Almost all wars end by some sort of negotiation,” Cirincione says. “If you project forward several weeks, it’s going to have to end. Usually there’s some sort of arrangement that’s made to end a war.”

But, he says, President Trump “seems to be flying by the seat of his pants and making this up as it goes along,” so “we just don’t know.”

READ MORE: Trump Has ‘No Idea’ If Iran War Will Win Him Nobel Peace Prize

Cirincione warns that “it’s possible that Trump has put us into the worst of all possible worlds. He’s made it impossible for us to have a negotiated solution to this. And we can’t use any military means to solve the problem. So we’re left in this worst of all worlds, which is Iran is holding all the nuclear cards at the end of this war.”

Mother Jones reports that “with his war in Iran, Trump has created a big, possibly catastrophic problem: A half-ton of highly enriched uranium, which can be made bomb-ready, is somewhere…out there—available for use by Iran’s new regime or perhaps not fully secured and susceptible to theft or expropriation.”

So, what are the options?

“The United States either has to conduct some high-risk military maneuver where we would land people from the 82nd Airborne or an Israeli commando unit into the site at Isfahan and try to find the uranium, go down hundreds of meters underground, retrieve the uranium and pull it out or perhaps destroy it on site,” says Cirincione. He calls it “a high risk proposition.”

“What you’re left with is really the only other solution where we started: a negotiated deal.”

President Barack Obama signed one with Iran. Trump tore it up during his first term.

With a negotiated deal, “You have to get Iran’s agreement to secure that material, declare it, allow inspectors, and then either secure it under inspection or downblend it—the process in reverse, bring it down to a 3-percent or 4-percent level. That’s the only two solutions to this problem.”

READ MORE: ‘Trying to Look Cool’: Patel Roasted for Inviting UFC Stars to Train FBI Agents

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Trump Has ‘No Idea’ If Iran War Will Win Him Nobel Peace Prize

Published

on

President Donald Trump says not only does he not know if his war against Iran will help win him the Nobel Peace Prize, he also doesn’t care, and doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Trump claimed to have ‘no idea’ if Operation Epic Fury will ‘get him over the finish line’ with committee members,'” the Washington Examiner reported on Thursday, after a telephone call with the president.

“I don’t know,” Trump told the Washington Examiner. “I’m not interested in it.”

“No, I don’t talk about the Nobel Prize,” Trump also said, when asked if the topic came up in his recent talks with foreign leaders.

The Examiner’s Christian Datoc, who spoke to the president, reported via video that Trump “appears to be having a massive about-face about winning the Nobel Peace Prize amid his war with Iran.”

“He told me over the phone that he’s not sure if he’s deserving of this award anymore,” Datoc added. “This is a massive change in the president’s rhetoric from really anything he’s said over the past thirteen months.”

READ MORE: ‘Trying to Look Cool’: Patel Roasted for Inviting UFC Stars to Train FBI Agents

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.