Concurrent with his wanton disregard for the climate, Trump essentially attacked our environment the moment he entered office, appointing misfit Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator (eventually replaced by Andrew Wheeler) and rolling back if not eliminating more than 100 environmental safeguards — Obama-era emissions rules for power plants and vehicles — under the guise of generating more business. The EPA has also weakened protections for more than half our wetlands and withdrawn legal justification for restricting mercury emissions from power plants. Meanwhile, the Interior Department has reduced protections for land and wildlife to expand oil and gas production. The attitude is despicable. In Trump’s shallow brain, the earth is our sandbox to use and abuse to our heart’s content with no regard to short-term or long-term consequences. This isn’t leadership — it’s arrogance and taking the easy way out.
