Medium.com (a paywall) has run some interesting articles on billionaire bunkers, Maybe the reason that are out to grab al l the money they can is because they are building, luxury underground lairs, little cities or communities
The CEO's and board of directors breathe the same air as we, but what was it Lenin said about capitalists and ropes. Well that is not just a capitalist thing, it is a human thing.
For a few shekkels, man will climb into a hole in the ground, risk cave ins and black lung disease, and even worse strike and vote that the can continue doing just that.
Some climate scientists call the modern era the anthropocene, the epoch in which man has changed the environment, and as such it will be the most short lived of all epochs, not even a thousand years.
At least it will solve the problems man causes himself and the planet.
Is Zuckerberg building a humongous bunker under one of the Hawaiian islands? I thought the islands were still created by an active volcano on the "ring of fire." Maybe billionaires are only good at making money and lack common sense. Zuckerberg probably paid good money for a Trump-like con man to help him build a haven for the future.
Ma Joad, a character in Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," said, "We're the people that live.......rich fellas come up and they die, an' their kids aint' no good, an' they die out. But, Tom, we keep a-comin......A different time's comin'."
The human race survived the ice age. I don't think the children of the billionaire class are the ones who will survive.
The Hawaiian islands were formed by hot spots, oozing lava, but the plate moves on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is building a sprawling, $100 million compound in Hawaii—complete with plans for a huge underground bunker. A WIRED investigation reveals the true scale of the project—and its impact on the local community. https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-inside-hawaii-compound/
The Islans is Kauai and it does not have an active volcano.
William, this is just part of the trump administration's sinister sceem to "kull the herd" and for "ethnic cleansing." Every executive order to dismantle government programs that protect and help We the People result in deaths of our most vulnerable population. That group includes the elderly, people with preexisting conditions, the very young, and people of color. That is why trump ordered essential workers back to their jobs during the covid pandemic because he knew the mortality rate of black and brown workers was higher than for the white.
It's all about the money. It's easier to give bigger tax cuts for the ultra wealthy if trump doesn't have to pay to deport immigrants or to pay out Social Security or medical benefits.
It does appear that the underlying goal of Trusk is to kill off the "useless eaters"
Hitler did it, Stalin did it. Worse yet, after WWII, Moscow and Red Square were covered by War Vets, most of themmissing limbs, an emabrassment for Stalin, and then overnight, they all disappeared. How convenient.
More industrial pollution, more bad air and water, more lung disease and cancer-- and no , you can't have affordable health care either. At least we are safe from socialism!
Republicans remind me of Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." But instead of mainlining morphine, the Rs mainline a highly addictive hatred of the marginalized, which, as quiet as it's kept, includes poor & middle-class Whites (PMW).
As for PMW's kids? They could not care less. You see, Rs live in the now, and if they must wand your vagina or step on your ball sack, or even stand idlly by while their Orange self-proclaimed King fellates Putin? Tough toenails. So be it.
As for your air? F your air. And your kids' air, too. Your water? Drink flames, you poor, you. Gotta Frack!!!
Watch a horror movie/series which is a shade worse than your reality. . . . You'll feel (slightly) better.
Yesterday, I read that Google's CEO said fossil fuels must be used to support their systems because it is impossible to build nuclear plants fast enough. I wondered if that is why Trump is promoting "clean coal."
I'm sorry to see this. About 20 years ago I attended a lectgure by a MIT reseacher swho said the earth's mantle contains enough enrgey...but since the enregy companies don't sell it, they supress it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_internal_heat_budget
What keeps me somewhat logical, is the fact that other countries are NOT going through this insanity and I then can say ok it will disappear when Trump is gone and his hangers on have left with him. With all the people who have been let go/fired I am surprised that the gov't is working at all!!
This government by t is NOT working at all. As a scientist I am most appalled at the War On Science. As Thom correctly points our science is being undermined at every point. The number of deaths that will inevitably ensue from his policies, be it from toxic air and water pollution, removing grants on climate change, vaccine development, socio-economic policies and on and on.
Young people are not completely oblivious to these outrages. We have seen how zealous some young people can be in acting in opposition to environmental degradation. I will be very surprised if there are not some incidents of violence directly against the officials responsible for some of these threats to the future of the next generation and the planet. This is not unlike the illegal wars in Viet Nam and Afghanistan and Iraq and war mongering at other times. They are stirring up a hornet's nest, and some of the more angry and emotional young people will probably react in a way which is dangerous and possibly self-destructive. Unfortunately, that is not likely to stop the administration from inflicting more damage for a very long time.
That is clearly a major problem, especially because younger people rely almost exclusively on social media which is badly contaminated. But I was referring to a very few of the more committed and radical kids who are less likely to fear consequences and who might resort to real violence against high officials, whom I would not try to name. I suspect the big wigs might be a bit less bold and audacious if they were in fear for their lives, although as I noted, that probably isn't enough to stop the corruption and extreme measures. I am not condoning it but the kid in PA wasn't old enough to buy cigarettes if I remember correctly. He was also a Republican and probably not acting to achieve justice. A lot of people are feeling desperate now and some are inclined to become heroic. Not a prediction but a probability calculation.
In 2024 around 24% of our energy came from a combination of renewables. Better yet was that 90% of all the new resources being built involved clean energy. There are electrification movements. We had a plan and it has been working. Of course Trump and his billionaires can't have that!
Hardly anyone can afford health care these days whether they have insurance or not. Drugs (including those for asthma) come from China---the tariffs will kill. The law and regulation rollbacks concerning the climate crisis will kill. Breathing issues always harm kids and the elderly first. These psychopaths and sadists won't care, hell, they will most likely enjoy watching.
We all know who should be feeling choked and gasping for air. Take this issue to the streets. Renewables have a real foothold despite the damn Republicans and Trump. Keep up the pressure. See you there!
I agree that we should be fighting the Krasnov administration in all that they do.
Except "renewables" are not the answer to our energy problems, only a short term solution. It takes fossil fuels to manufacture wind farms and solar panels and the batteries that they and cars need. And then we go on an energy bender and the renewables are only there for extra consumption. The use of fossil fuels keeps growing and of course, the energy demands of AI are growing at an alarming rate.
Eventually the fossil fuels will run out and take renewables with them. Already we are seeing diminished returns on oil extraction.
All in all the future is bleak with climate change calling for more energy consumption. We need to do what we can to reduce our need for energy. At one point, not that long ago, humans survived without electricity.
Chris I get your point, but I don't agree with the formula you posit. Invention is how we get to a better, cleaner way to produce electricity.
It's about eliminating combustion, not returning to burning and polluting with fireplaces or campfires.
Caves are a great idea, people do live in posh ones in Europe. Underground homes or ones built into a hillside may be part of the answer too. It's going to be about new building materials and methods.
"Survived" is in the eye of the beholder; they lived shorter more brutal lives. That's exactly what the psychopaths and oligarchs want to see happen. Screw that!
I admire your passion for renewables and in the best of all possible worlds we could live idyllically. But there are too many problems confronting us. There are too many of us on the planet living the lifestyle that we do. If we could live frugally perhaps we would stand a chance but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is no help that governments all over the world are intent on blowing each other up and spending enormous amounts of money on weapons that have no productive use.
You should check out The Honest Sorcerer. His posts can be somewhat depressing but he does speak the truth for the most part.
Great point Chris. I tried calculating the actual fraction of our energy sources that are used in WAR. It is huge. Why do you think t and the repubs and even some democrats are afraid to address reducing the projected 1 trillion $ military budget and to reduce the number of some 740 major military bases around the world.
Not true anymore. My favorite is hemp technology. Cash crop in more way than one. Renewable in that it can be grown. Can also eat it, smoke it, wear it, burn it, etc.
the deplorables are culling the undesirables. This is most certainly not new. The playbook is many centuries old. Helping to defeat fascism in the 20th Century left 'murka wide open to breeding with it in the 21st. Totalitarianism, monarchy, tyranny, autocracy are negative-sum games played by fearful narcissists. They all are un-sustainable. This is agonizingly well documented across all cultures.
You screw up your addictive greed with failure, you need to eliminate the outliers that show your obvious incompetence. Embarrassment is not an option. Shame is for mortals. Denial is one of the first defenses for paranoid fear. It really has no corollary. You screw up, you lie, you lie about the first lie, and kaboom, you need a Nazi-like eugenic purge to eliminate all the evidence.
This TFG infectious boil is glaringly incompetent at every aspect of sustainable logic. It excels only at failure and the consequent cover-up. If you want to be a part of that, you will become nothing more than an orc. Meanwhile, you and your overlords have about 15 years to let Muck get you off the planet before it implodes. Enjoy the Martian atmosphere. It is free of pollutants.
Not your thing? Get over your selfishness and fight like hell for your home planet and its very high degree of intelligence and ecological capabilities. There is no other choice - you must become a new you, connected and integrated into the whole. Sound good? Try it out, very soon.
Samuel F. B. (yes, I do know what the F. B. stands for) Morse famously tapped out in his eponymous code: "What hath God wrought?" I look around and say out loud: "What the fuck have we done?"
Curse the Belotti decision that has been our undoing as a country. Now as you so thoroughly explain, the wealthy plan to kill us with air and water poisoning while they get ever richer. God I just want a revolution against the oligarchs and let them run to their bunkers. They are not welcome on my planet.
Well, according to this administration you have it all wrong. Their answer to EVERYTHING is, if you don't admit it's a problem then the problem doesn't exist!
See how that works? There's no problem because I say there's no problem!
Scientific studies, proof, data are all "woke" ergo they are wrong & can be ignored & maligned.
Rather than write a comment I so loved the list you made of all the ways t is engineering a war against climate change, I just reproduce your list here. May our opposing politicians memorize this list when they get up to talk.
And now, in a manner demonstrative of a fully corrupt banana republic mindset, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are giving the fossil fuel industry everything they could want. In addition to the outrages listed above, in just the first three months of this regime, they have further gifted the industry by:
— Exempting Coal Plants from Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS): The Trump administration granted two-year exemptions to 47 coal-fired power plants, allowing them to bypass MATS regulations. This decision increases the risk of mercury pollution, which can cause neurological damage (particularly in children) and respiratory illnesses.
— Declaring a National Energy Emergency: Trump declared a national energy emergency to accelerate fossil fuel development, weakening environmental reviews and potentially increasing pollution.
— Rolling Back Vehicle Emissions Standards: The administration overturned emissions standards for vehicles, leading to increased air pollution and associated health risks.
— Reducing EPA Enforcement: Under Trump, the EPA brought fewer cases against polluters and sought lower penalties, diminishing deterrents against environmental violations. Now Musk and his Doge teenagers are further gutting the EPA itself.
— Weakening Methane Emission Regulations: The administration rolled back rules limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, contributing to climate change and air quality issues.
— Providing Direct Channels for Pollution Exemptions: Fossil fuel companies were given a direct email line to request exemptions from air pollution regulations, undermining public health protections.
— Eliminating Climate and Environmental Justice Webpages: The removal of federal climate and environmental justice webpages hindered public access to crucial information for addressing pollution and climate impacts and served to hide or cover up Trump’s naked corruption.
— Reversing the Clean Power Plan: The administration replaced the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which could lead to thousands of additional premature deaths annually due to increased air pollution.
— Cutting Funding for Environmental Protections: Significant budget cuts to the EPA and other environmental programs reduced the capacity to monitor and enforce pollution controls.
— Reducing Public Land Protections: The administration reduced the size of national monuments and opened protected lands to fossil fuel extraction, threatening ecosystems and biodiversity.
— Rolling Back Clean Water Protections: By narrowing the definition of “protected waters,” the administration allowed more pollutants to enter waterways, affecting drinking water and aquatic life.
— Undermining Scientific Research: Policies were enacted to limit the use of scientific studies in policy-making, particularly those related to environmental and public health research.
— Reversing the Paris Climate Agreement Commitment: The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under Trump signaled a retreat from global efforts to combat climate change.
— Promoting Fossil Fuel Exports: The administration lifted restrictions on fossil fuel exports, encouraging increased production and consumption globally, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
— Reducing Air Quality Monitoring: Cuts to air pollution monitoring programs made it more difficult to detect and address harmful emissions, posing risks to public health but increasing the profits and impunity of the fossil fuel industry.
Trump and Republican cronies in his administration and Congress are committed to trading millions of cases of asthma, childhood cancers, and environmental damage — not to mention the thousands who are dying every year from climate-change-related violent weather, floods, and fires — in exchange for blood-money cash.
Medium.com (a paywall) has run some interesting articles on billionaire bunkers, Maybe the reason that are out to grab al l the money they can is because they are building, luxury underground lairs, little cities or communities
The CEO's and board of directors breathe the same air as we, but what was it Lenin said about capitalists and ropes. Well that is not just a capitalist thing, it is a human thing.
For a few shekkels, man will climb into a hole in the ground, risk cave ins and black lung disease, and even worse strike and vote that the can continue doing just that.
Some climate scientists call the modern era the anthropocene, the epoch in which man has changed the environment, and as such it will be the most short lived of all epochs, not even a thousand years.
At least it will solve the problems man causes himself and the planet.
Is Zuckerberg building a humongous bunker under one of the Hawaiian islands? I thought the islands were still created by an active volcano on the "ring of fire." Maybe billionaires are only good at making money and lack common sense. Zuckerberg probably paid good money for a Trump-like con man to help him build a haven for the future.
Ma Joad, a character in Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath," said, "We're the people that live.......rich fellas come up and they die, an' their kids aint' no good, an' they die out. But, Tom, we keep a-comin......A different time's comin'."
The human race survived the ice age. I don't think the children of the billionaire class are the ones who will survive.
The Hawaiian islands were formed by hot spots, oozing lava, but the plate moves on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is building a sprawling, $100 million compound in Hawaii—complete with plans for a huge underground bunker. A WIRED investigation reveals the true scale of the project—and its impact on the local community. https://www.wired.com/story/mark-zuckerberg-inside-hawaii-compound/
The Islans is Kauai and it does not have an active volcano.
But they had the Leper War. https://www.shakaguide.com/article/kauai/leper-war-on-kauai-when-the-diseased-fought-back-and-won
William, this is just part of the trump administration's sinister sceem to "kull the herd" and for "ethnic cleansing." Every executive order to dismantle government programs that protect and help We the People result in deaths of our most vulnerable population. That group includes the elderly, people with preexisting conditions, the very young, and people of color. That is why trump ordered essential workers back to their jobs during the covid pandemic because he knew the mortality rate of black and brown workers was higher than for the white.
It's all about the money. It's easier to give bigger tax cuts for the ultra wealthy if trump doesn't have to pay to deport immigrants or to pay out Social Security or medical benefits.
It does appear that the underlying goal of Trusk is to kill off the "useless eaters"
Hitler did it, Stalin did it. Worse yet, after WWII, Moscow and Red Square were covered by War Vets, most of themmissing limbs, an emabrassment for Stalin, and then overnight, they all disappeared. How convenient.
Our future is either soylent green, or biofuel
More industrial pollution, more bad air and water, more lung disease and cancer-- and no , you can't have affordable health care either. At least we are safe from socialism!
Republicans remind me of Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." But instead of mainlining morphine, the Rs mainline a highly addictive hatred of the marginalized, which, as quiet as it's kept, includes poor & middle-class Whites (PMW).
As for PMW's kids? They could not care less. You see, Rs live in the now, and if they must wand your vagina or step on your ball sack, or even stand idlly by while their Orange self-proclaimed King fellates Putin? Tough toenails. So be it.
As for your air? F your air. And your kids' air, too. Your water? Drink flames, you poor, you. Gotta Frack!!!
Watch a horror movie/series which is a shade worse than your reality. . . . You'll feel (slightly) better.
This did not start yesterday. See https://youtu.be/tOEnk3K6FEE?si=vShAIvwuyN77qAsX:
Ironically, the Republican Party once housed conservationists, supported environmentalism. Nixon created the EPA.
The founders of the biggest conservation socieities were virtually all Republicans. E.G. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Pennsylvania_Conservancy
Thom,
To riff on an old song from the 1970s. “All I need is the air that I breathe as to loathe Trump”.
All the best, watch your six,
Steve Dundas
Yesterday, I read that Google's CEO said fossil fuels must be used to support their systems because it is impossible to build nuclear plants fast enough. I wondered if that is why Trump is promoting "clean coal."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-google-ceo-tells-congress-164530047.html
I'm sorry to see this. About 20 years ago I attended a lectgure by a MIT reseacher swho said the earth's mantle contains enough enrgey...but since the enregy companies don't sell it, they supress it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_internal_heat_budget
At one time there was talk of using geothermal here. You don't have to live in Iceland to use it.
There are variations on the theme. Heat pumps are one variation.
Mantle drills for harvesting geothermal energy
https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/235493/mantle-drills-for-harvesting-geothermal-energy
What keeps me somewhat logical, is the fact that other countries are NOT going through this insanity and I then can say ok it will disappear when Trump is gone and his hangers on have left with him. With all the people who have been let go/fired I am surprised that the gov't is working at all!!
This government by t is NOT working at all. As a scientist I am most appalled at the War On Science. As Thom correctly points our science is being undermined at every point. The number of deaths that will inevitably ensue from his policies, be it from toxic air and water pollution, removing grants on climate change, vaccine development, socio-economic policies and on and on.
Young people are not completely oblivious to these outrages. We have seen how zealous some young people can be in acting in opposition to environmental degradation. I will be very surprised if there are not some incidents of violence directly against the officials responsible for some of these threats to the future of the next generation and the planet. This is not unlike the illegal wars in Viet Nam and Afghanistan and Iraq and war mongering at other times. They are stirring up a hornet's nest, and some of the more angry and emotional young people will probably react in a way which is dangerous and possibly self-destructive. Unfortunately, that is not likely to stop the administration from inflicting more damage for a very long time.
I had hope for the young people as well but fear that the propagandists keep stepping up their game. All bets are off.
That is clearly a major problem, especially because younger people rely almost exclusively on social media which is badly contaminated. But I was referring to a very few of the more committed and radical kids who are less likely to fear consequences and who might resort to real violence against high officials, whom I would not try to name. I suspect the big wigs might be a bit less bold and audacious if they were in fear for their lives, although as I noted, that probably isn't enough to stop the corruption and extreme measures. I am not condoning it but the kid in PA wasn't old enough to buy cigarettes if I remember correctly. He was also a Republican and probably not acting to achieve justice. A lot of people are feeling desperate now and some are inclined to become heroic. Not a prediction but a probability calculation.
In 2024 around 24% of our energy came from a combination of renewables. Better yet was that 90% of all the new resources being built involved clean energy. There are electrification movements. We had a plan and it has been working. Of course Trump and his billionaires can't have that!
Hardly anyone can afford health care these days whether they have insurance or not. Drugs (including those for asthma) come from China---the tariffs will kill. The law and regulation rollbacks concerning the climate crisis will kill. Breathing issues always harm kids and the elderly first. These psychopaths and sadists won't care, hell, they will most likely enjoy watching.
We all know who should be feeling choked and gasping for air. Take this issue to the streets. Renewables have a real foothold despite the damn Republicans and Trump. Keep up the pressure. See you there!
I agree that we should be fighting the Krasnov administration in all that they do.
Except "renewables" are not the answer to our energy problems, only a short term solution. It takes fossil fuels to manufacture wind farms and solar panels and the batteries that they and cars need. And then we go on an energy bender and the renewables are only there for extra consumption. The use of fossil fuels keeps growing and of course, the energy demands of AI are growing at an alarming rate.
Eventually the fossil fuels will run out and take renewables with them. Already we are seeing diminished returns on oil extraction.
All in all the future is bleak with climate change calling for more energy consumption. We need to do what we can to reduce our need for energy. At one point, not that long ago, humans survived without electricity.
Chris I get your point, but I don't agree with the formula you posit. Invention is how we get to a better, cleaner way to produce electricity.
It's about eliminating combustion, not returning to burning and polluting with fireplaces or campfires.
Caves are a great idea, people do live in posh ones in Europe. Underground homes or ones built into a hillside may be part of the answer too. It's going to be about new building materials and methods.
"Survived" is in the eye of the beholder; they lived shorter more brutal lives. That's exactly what the psychopaths and oligarchs want to see happen. Screw that!
I admire your passion for renewables and in the best of all possible worlds we could live idyllically. But there are too many problems confronting us. There are too many of us on the planet living the lifestyle that we do. If we could live frugally perhaps we would stand a chance but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It is no help that governments all over the world are intent on blowing each other up and spending enormous amounts of money on weapons that have no productive use.
You should check out The Honest Sorcerer. His posts can be somewhat depressing but he does speak the truth for the most part.
Have a good night.
Great point Chris. I tried calculating the actual fraction of our energy sources that are used in WAR. It is huge. Why do you think t and the repubs and even some democrats are afraid to address reducing the projected 1 trillion $ military budget and to reduce the number of some 740 major military bases around the world.
Not true anymore. My favorite is hemp technology. Cash crop in more way than one. Renewable in that it can be grown. Can also eat it, smoke it, wear it, burn it, etc.
One study of hemp battery performance found that hemp batteries are eight times more powerful than lithium batteries. This small-scale study found that lithium has an energy density of 100-125 watt hours per kilo while hemp has 60-80 watt hours per kilo. https://www.labroots.com/trending/cannabis-sciences/22023/hemp-supercapacitors-outperform-kinds-batteries-2#:~:text=One%20study%20of%20hemp%20battery,80%20watt%20hours%20per%20kilo.
I mentioned geotherm variations below.
Lots of applications for ceramics, graphite, nanotechnology to entirely change manufacture.
There are also a lot of other variations. France is working on novel nuclear plants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2rdjWjcZQI
the deplorables are culling the undesirables. This is most certainly not new. The playbook is many centuries old. Helping to defeat fascism in the 20th Century left 'murka wide open to breeding with it in the 21st. Totalitarianism, monarchy, tyranny, autocracy are negative-sum games played by fearful narcissists. They all are un-sustainable. This is agonizingly well documented across all cultures.
You screw up your addictive greed with failure, you need to eliminate the outliers that show your obvious incompetence. Embarrassment is not an option. Shame is for mortals. Denial is one of the first defenses for paranoid fear. It really has no corollary. You screw up, you lie, you lie about the first lie, and kaboom, you need a Nazi-like eugenic purge to eliminate all the evidence.
This TFG infectious boil is glaringly incompetent at every aspect of sustainable logic. It excels only at failure and the consequent cover-up. If you want to be a part of that, you will become nothing more than an orc. Meanwhile, you and your overlords have about 15 years to let Muck get you off the planet before it implodes. Enjoy the Martian atmosphere. It is free of pollutants.
Not your thing? Get over your selfishness and fight like hell for your home planet and its very high degree of intelligence and ecological capabilities. There is no other choice - you must become a new you, connected and integrated into the whole. Sound good? Try it out, very soon.
Samuel F. B. (yes, I do know what the F. B. stands for) Morse famously tapped out in his eponymous code: "What hath God wrought?" I look around and say out loud: "What the fuck have we done?"
I propose putting Trump in the Dark Pentagon - not the building - rather by adding the trait of mania to the Dark Tetrad.
Here's why: https://halbrown.substack.com/p/trump-is-in-the-dark-pentagon-and
Curse the Belotti decision that has been our undoing as a country. Now as you so thoroughly explain, the wealthy plan to kill us with air and water poisoning while they get ever richer. God I just want a revolution against the oligarchs and let them run to their bunkers. They are not welcome on my planet.
Well, according to this administration you have it all wrong. Their answer to EVERYTHING is, if you don't admit it's a problem then the problem doesn't exist!
See how that works? There's no problem because I say there's no problem!
Scientific studies, proof, data are all "woke" ergo they are wrong & can be ignored & maligned.
U$A! U$A! U$A!
Here's a different (but free) vers. of what Mr Farrar refers to: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/10/magazine/bunkers-prepping.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BE8.WPIz.d00Mo4xHlOwT&smid=url-share
Blocked.
That's the "Share" link. Maybe your firewall is very strong.
Rather than write a comment I so loved the list you made of all the ways t is engineering a war against climate change, I just reproduce your list here. May our opposing politicians memorize this list when they get up to talk.
And now, in a manner demonstrative of a fully corrupt banana republic mindset, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are giving the fossil fuel industry everything they could want. In addition to the outrages listed above, in just the first three months of this regime, they have further gifted the industry by:
— Exempting Coal Plants from Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS): The Trump administration granted two-year exemptions to 47 coal-fired power plants, allowing them to bypass MATS regulations. This decision increases the risk of mercury pollution, which can cause neurological damage (particularly in children) and respiratory illnesses.
— Declaring a National Energy Emergency: Trump declared a national energy emergency to accelerate fossil fuel development, weakening environmental reviews and potentially increasing pollution.
— Rolling Back Vehicle Emissions Standards: The administration overturned emissions standards for vehicles, leading to increased air pollution and associated health risks.
— Reducing EPA Enforcement: Under Trump, the EPA brought fewer cases against polluters and sought lower penalties, diminishing deterrents against environmental violations. Now Musk and his Doge teenagers are further gutting the EPA itself.
— Weakening Methane Emission Regulations: The administration rolled back rules limiting methane emissions from oil and gas operations, contributing to climate change and air quality issues.
— Providing Direct Channels for Pollution Exemptions: Fossil fuel companies were given a direct email line to request exemptions from air pollution regulations, undermining public health protections.
— Eliminating Climate and Environmental Justice Webpages: The removal of federal climate and environmental justice webpages hindered public access to crucial information for addressing pollution and climate impacts and served to hide or cover up Trump’s naked corruption.
— Reversing the Clean Power Plan: The administration replaced the Clean Power Plan with the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which could lead to thousands of additional premature deaths annually due to increased air pollution.
— Cutting Funding for Environmental Protections: Significant budget cuts to the EPA and other environmental programs reduced the capacity to monitor and enforce pollution controls.
— Reducing Public Land Protections: The administration reduced the size of national monuments and opened protected lands to fossil fuel extraction, threatening ecosystems and biodiversity.
— Rolling Back Clean Water Protections: By narrowing the definition of “protected waters,” the administration allowed more pollutants to enter waterways, affecting drinking water and aquatic life.
— Undermining Scientific Research: Policies were enacted to limit the use of scientific studies in policy-making, particularly those related to environmental and public health research.
— Reversing the Paris Climate Agreement Commitment: The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement under Trump signaled a retreat from global efforts to combat climate change.
— Promoting Fossil Fuel Exports: The administration lifted restrictions on fossil fuel exports, encouraging increased production and consumption globally, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
— Reducing Air Quality Monitoring: Cuts to air pollution monitoring programs made it more difficult to detect and address harmful emissions, posing risks to public health but increasing the profits and impunity of the fossil fuel industry.
Trump and Republican cronies in his administration and Congress are committed to trading millions of cases of asthma, childhood cancers, and environmental damage — not to mention the thousands who are dying every year from climate-change-related violent weather, floods, and fires — in exchange for blood-money cash.