President Trump and his buddies in the administration today rolled out yet another new initiative that is part of his killer environmental strategy, one that sounds the death knell on clean air and clean water and makes a joke out of efforts to at least slow the devastating impact of climate change.
And while that was happening, I was at the recycling center trying to do what I can to limit the amount of trash our household contributes to the landfill, which one day is going to run out.
There, I saw an elderly woman get out her pickup truck, grab her four-footed cane in one hand and a couple of cans in the other, then hobble over to the huge container where cans and bottles are to be deposited, and toss them in.
Then, she slowly made her way back to her truck, grabbed a couple more cans, and took them over to the container. I watched as she made several trips to do this, and finally, asked her if she needed help. She looked at me with a quizzical look and said, "No, sonny, I've got this."
First time in a long while anyone called me "sonny".
So, as I drove away, I wondered what she thinks of Trump's determination to ruin our environment to satisfy his West Virginia coal mining supporters and the big corporations who have been lobbying to roll back the Obama administration's environmental protections.
All of this comes, of course, after Trump's consistent actions that demonstrate that he holds environmental initiatives in utter disdain. Bringing asbestos back. Deriding wind energy. Initiating tariffs that devastate solar. And the latest, promoting "clean coal."
His own Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects that if finalized, its new regulation could lead to between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths each year compared to the Obama-era rule.
The woman at the recycling center probably will not be affected directly by Trump's policies -- after all, she appeared to be in her late 80s, if not older. But if she has kids, grandkids and great grandkids, they will.
Speaking of climate change, this Washington Post article article graphically outlines how rising seas caused by climate change are depressing property values in some coastal communities projected to one day be under water. Although that should cause the Trump team to take notice -- after all, money is at stake -- they will poopoo it because they deny climate change is real.
Greed. That's what drives this administration, this presidency, and in the end, it will only serve to Make America Polluted Again. And, its killer environmental strategy may well have a long-term, devastating impact on the future of our country and those who come after us.