As the Trump administration continues to publicly question the legitimacy of climate change, a new podcast is moving the conversation forward in decidedly productive, proactive ways.
Mustafa Santiago Ali, a senior adviser for environmental justice and community revitalization in the Obama EPA, said he was pleased with the court’s decision, but is also displeased with the Trump administration’s slow pace in tackling the pollution problem across the country.
“Each day that they move slowly, they place our most vulnerable communities, especially our children’s lives, in jeopardy,” Ali told ThinkProgress.
Despite his cries of “drain the swamp,” President Trump has stocked Washington DC full with the kinds of out-of-touch elites that he so routinely rails against. Among them, Scott Pruitt—recently named “Trump’s Worst Cabinet Member”—shines especially bright for his apparent sense of entitlement, his preference for first class air travel, and reverence for private industry groups that comes even at the expense of life-saving environmental protections.
The Trump cabinet contains more public climate science deniers than any administration in modern history.
According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, at a full meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, more than half the room denies the reality of climate science.
Beyond its attack on protections against the dangers of fossil fuel extractions, the Trump pro-polluter strategy includes a far broader assault on the laws and safeguards designed to limit pollution, support a clean energy economy, and protect public health and the environment. Trump’s Office of Management and Budget is overseeing a government-wide effort to deregulate industry pursuant to Trump’s Executive Order 13777, which requires each agency to establish a task force to identify regulations to eliminate.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is “to protect human health and the environment.” Disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt tried his best to undermine this vital mission by choosing to slash critical health protections and let corporate polluters off the hook. Now that Pruitt’s been booted, we need an EPA administrator dedicated to undoing his toxic agenda and restoring the agency to its core mission. Progress is possible and necessary – but another corporate crony or climate skeptic will not get us there.
Scott Pruitt is gone, but the fight is just beginning. We need an EPA administrator who puts our health and environment first, period. Any alternative is unacceptable.
