We’re fast approaching the global climate strike. While events around the world are going to run for an entire week, beginning on September 20, and running though the 27th, it looks as though most of the local activity, here in Southeast Michigan, will be on the first day of the campaign, which is this Friday. If you’d like to participate, it sounds as though people will be leaving their classes and places of work at 11:00 AM, and making their way to Ingalls Mall [915 East Washington Street] in Ann Arbor, were organizers are hoping some 20,0000 people will gather for a noon rally, attend workshops, etc. Additional information can be found on the Act On Climate website, but here’s the general overview.
[A complete list of regional events can be found at the Action Network website. Rally sites in southeast Michigan include, Grand Circus Park in Detroit, the Capital Building in Lansing, the Somerset Mall in Troy, Riverside Park in Auburn Hills, and the Brighton Chamber of Commerce.]
As I suspect that almost all of you appreciate how dire the situation is, having read the reports and witnessed the ever-worsening devastation wrought by extreme weather over the past decade, I won’t spend my time right now trying to make the case that decisive action is needed. Instead, I thought that we could discuss the following quotes and headlines, which collectively demonstrate, I think, the aggressively retrograde approach to climate change being pursued by our current administration.
1. Bloomberg: “EPA to Unveil Plan to Take Away California’s Authority on Car Emissions“
The Trump administration, according to reporting by Bloomberg, plans to announce their plans tomorrow to rescind California’s authority to enact state laws intended to curb greenhouse gas emissions in autos. So, just two days before the above-mentioned Global Climate Strike, the Trump administration, assuming this Bloomberg report is accurate, will have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) come out and say that California cannot set emissions standards that are more aggressive than those put forward by the Trump administration. So, just to sum up… the pro “states rights” Republicans, who, generally speaking, hate it when the federal government interferes in state business, will be stepping in to aggressively take action against the state of California, forcing them to roll back the emissions laws passed passed by their democratically elected legislature. And, not just that, but they’ll be using the EPA to do it… I have to give them credit. It never would have occurred to me to use the EPA to go after states that are stepping up to protect the environment. It’s so fucking Orwellian.
2. Wall Street Journal: “Justice Department Launches Antitrust Probe Into Four Auto Makers“
Not only is the Trump administration going after California for imposing stricter fuel economy and emissions standards, but the Department of Justice, according to recent reimporting from the Wall Street Journal, is going after automakers who have agreed to conform to those emissions standards set by California. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware explains the action this way. “This investigation is nothing but an attempt by the Trump Administration to retaliate against these companies and stoke fear in others,” he said. So, not only do we have an administration using the EPA to go after California for attempting to confront the climate crisis in a serious way, but we have an administration going after those automakers who have agreed to take action, claiming that their discussions on the subject violate antitrust laws. In other words, the government is claiming that automakers are guilty of conspiring to address climate change, and forcing them to continue practices that we know are killing the earth.
3. Marcy Wheeler: “Trump’s going to go to war because MBS has promised to keep oil prices low thru the election.“
Today, when asked about his comments earlier this week about how the U.S. was ready to go to war in Iran on behalf of Saudi Arabia if Jamal Khashoggi’s murderer, Mohammad bin Salman, gave the word, Donald Trump referenced gas prices and how the Saudis were in a position to “help us out”. So, it’s not difficult to see why Wheeler, whose analysis I respect, might get the idea that Trump’s willingness to come to the rescue of Mohammad bin Salman might have something to do with keeping oil prices down through the 2020 election. Personally, I think the fix was in for the Saudis a long time ago — let’s remember that almost every veto Trump has issued as president has been for the benefit of the House of Saud, who, it’s worth noting, have a suspiciously close relationship with the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — but I don’t doubt for a minute that everything being done by the administration right now is being done primarily to keep our President from being forced from office and prosecuted for his numerous crimes.
I could go on… but I think you probably get the point. We’re living inside a climate death cult. The American Republican Party is the only party in the democratic world that denies the science of climate change, and, if we don’t stop them, they’re going to be the end of humanity. They didn’t just pull us out of the Paris Climate Accord, but they’re prosecuting companies that are trying to move the needle on climate change. They are in bed with big oil. They are completely dependent on fossil fuel money. And, if we don’t stop them, they’ll be the death of us all. We need to be in the streets, fighting for a Green New Deal, clean energy jobs, and an end to fossil fuel subsidies. If we want to remain on this planet, there’s really no alternative.
