Save Our State! Save Our Planet...

This morning’s lead editorial in the New York Times suggests that because Donald Trump and some of his ignoble appointees to Cabinet posts such as EPA, Energy, and Interior are avowed climate change deniers, that it will fall to the states to continue the hard work of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Exemplary efforts by a few states are noted, including the fact that 33 states cut emissions while still growing their economies.

I think there are three crucial takeaways here:

We must continue to fight the myth that environmental regulations are job killing. Quite the reverse is true, when coupled with creative ways to foster and encourage alternative energy sectors like wind and solar. Another way of putting it is that the lack of protections is killing the health of our children, of our citizens, and of the planet itself.

Here in North Carolina, we must continue to stay vigilant while our state legislature and McCrory-appointed environmental officials allow our rivers to be poisoned and our air to be defiled. Shifting away from, for example, coal burning power plants both protects our environment and stimulates the new economy, bringing clean air and water as well as high-paying, high-tech jobs. Forget Washington; let’s focus on Raleigh where hopefully our voices can be heard.

Don’t forget Washington. Join me as I gather together all the relevant research about Trump’s odious, climate change denying appointees like Rick Perry and Scott Pruitt and as I collect contact information for each and every Senator who will hear testimony about them. During his campaign, Trump often derided “political hacks” in Washington who were not qualified to do their jobs. In a bitter twist of irony, never has a charge been more accurate when it comes to his appointment of these two men, absolute shills for the fossil fuel industry who have between them zero experience in the actual qualities needed to run their respective agencies. Please join me in opposing their appointments vigorously.

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