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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Environmental Rights / Environmental Rights Are Human Rights / Apocalypse Very Soon

Apocalypse Very Soon

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Via Alexander C. Kaufman at HuffPo, we learn that the EPA has decided that we’ve all just got to sit back and fry — and like it too, dammit:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday evening sent employees a list of eight approved talking points on climate change from its Office of Public Affairs ― guidelines that promote a message of uncertainty about climate science and gloss over proposed cuts to key adaptation programs.

Here a couple of samples of the new guidance:

“Human activity impacts our changing climate in some manner,” one point reads. “The ability to measure with precision the degree and extent of that impact, and what to do about it, are subject to continuing debate and dialogue.”

The other states: “While there has been extensive research and a host of published reports on climate change, clear gaps remain including our understanding of the role of human activity and what we can do about it.”

It’s clear enough what Scott Pruitt’s and Donald Trump’s EPA thinks we should do about the global test-to-destruction experiment on which we are now engaged.  F**k-all.  Hades here we come.
As Eric Levitz at New York magazine reminds us, this actually isn’t the limit of GOP and Trump climate sabotage:

It would be bleak enough if these talking points were an accurate reflection of our government’s position on climate change. “We will do nothing to stop this calamity from happening, but will help you prepare for its onset” isn’t the most uplifting sentiment. But the Trump administration’s actual position on the matter is even worse.

In truth, Scott Pruitt’s EPA is about as opposed to helping communities prepare for climate catastrophe as it is to regulating carbon emissions: Last year, the EPA shut down its climate-adaptation program, and proposed funding cuts* to another initiative dedicated to studying the effects of rising sea levels. [links in the original]

Again, as Levitz points out, unchecked climate change will (and almost certainly has already) kill a lot of people. Which is to say this isn’t garden valley Republican robbery of most of us to serve the interests of our former Secretary of State and his ilk.  Reckless doesn’t begin to describe what the GOP in general and the current administration in particular are doing to the planet, and to Americans’ well being, safety and security.

The climate change debacle is not only down to the United States, of course. But nowhere else has the power that we do to shift international action on this.  We’re doing the opposite, and the FSM knows how high the bill will go.

On that note: top of the evening to the jackals. Open thread, y’all

*Most of the cuts were undone in the omni-budget bill, but if we have a minor respite from environmental despoilation, it’s not thanks to Trump and Pruitt.

Image: D. Howard Hitchcock, Halemaumau, Lake of Fire, 1888

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    The nightmare scenario for me is Shitgibbon appointing enough new SCOTUS justices to simply declare the EPA unconstitutional. I know Thomas would do that tomorrow if he had the votes and I assume Alito and Goresuch would join him (Roberts is iffy). Imagine the federal government legally barred from doing anything on climate or the environment for generations.

  2. 2.

    cain

    Apparently we have a new VA Secretary, the old one got fired by a tweet. Trump hires his personal physician to the job. So what new doctor is Trump going to have now?

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Dammit, there’s that black background again! Tom, what in the world is going on? (Think it must be at your end.)

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    @Tom Levenson: Che Bella! Grazie!

    As far as the OP, once again the world is going to get ahead of us here. But if China and India get their acts together, even with how far America could backslide, it could still counter just enough from the rest of the world until we have sane governance again.

    Not to mention the Left Coast isn’t playing Pruitt’s game and enacting our own protocols here.

  12. 12.

    scav

    The black background is rather comfortingly (?) indicative of the topic — and black on black rather comforting (? round 2) as it’s nearly impossible to read any comments, all of which does rather demonstrate the EPAs and current govts policy on any and all major problems. Shut up, there’s nothing to see, no problem and we’re not listening to you anyhow. Stop whining and learn planetary CPR.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    While it’s gloomy, I read somewhere that American greenhouse gasses are still falling. We just got to make it to 2021.

  14. 14.

    Gretchen

    @cain: Maybe Bornstein will get a promotion? I’m not confident that he would be much help if Trump had a heart attack.
    Why would this guy want to head the VA, though? He has no executive experience at all? At all? Why does he think he will succeed running a large organization for someone who soils everyone he touches?

  15. 15.

    Chyron HR

    Yes, but once the planet is covered in firestorms for decades it will finally bring an end to the neoliberal status quo.

  16. 16.

    Gretchen

    @Yutsano: And China and India will make all the money on climate-mitigating technology while we’ll have to buy it at whatever price they name because we were too stupid to invest in development ourselves.

  18. 18.

    Jay

    @Yutsano:

    “The climate change debacle is not only down to the United States, of course. But nowhere else has the power that we do to shift international action on this. We’re doing the opposite, and the FSM knows how high the bill will go.”

    China’s been taking point for quite a while, installing more Green Energy than the ROW combined, starting to clean up past messes, and transitioning away from Coal.

  19. 19.

    Jay

    @Gretchen:

    Now a days, panels are Chinese, small scale wind is Indian, controllers and chargers are Australian and Canadian, microhydro is Canadian, batteries are German, British or American.

  21. 21.

    Yutsano

    @Jay: To be fair, China still has a ways to go yet. The smog conditions in most Chinese cities are still rather strong. Beijing still has regular pollution events that would be catastrophic anywhere else in the world. The Chinese are working on it but it will be a long time yet before they transition away.

    Honestly, the Middle East could be solar power paradise. But Prince Salman seems to be ignoring that aspect.

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    Pruitt and Zinke will wreck the most long-term damage, among the many horrid Trump cabinet members. And they both have longterm plans well beyond their current gigs.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: The problem is that as a serving general officer/flag officer he has less independence than if he was retired. This was a similar problem that LTG McMaster faced as the AP-NSA. In terms of actual experience running things, he’s got plenty. It is far, far, far better than Pete Hegseth, who is one of the rotating fill ins on Fox & Friends.

  31. 31.

    Jay

    @Yutsano:

    It took the US almost 2 decades from the Clean Air Act to actually get rid of “brown sunsets” in the US. Before the Act, the EPA sent professional photographers around the US to document the carnage.

    https://www.epa.gov/history/historical-photos-and-images

    You can screw up the environment in just a few days, but it takes decades, or 100 years, or never to clean it up.

    It’s pretty clear we are not the smartest of animals.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    @Jay:

    You can screw up the environment in just a few days,

    Huh? Not so with respect to clean air policy.

  34. 34.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I mean, comparatively speaking yes. I still think that Jackson fudged the truth on Trump’s medical report. We know well by now that Trump has the ability to bring out the worst in people around him.

  40. 40.

    tobie

    @schrodingers_cat: The agreement in question was signed in conjunction with the Paris Climate Accord at COP21. President Hollande actually negotiated the deal and it was part of a larger package involving the sale of Mirage fighter jets to India. I don’t remember the full details of the deal but among peace activists it did raise some hackles.

  41. 41.

    E

    When the kids being born today come of age and realize that their parents and grandparents knew with what amounts to *total certainty* that they were wrecking the climate for their own god damn children, and couldn’t bring themselves to take even minor steps to avert this outcome, will they treat us the way the Parkland kids are treating the NRA, or will it be somewhat more strident? Will they be breaking down our doors and throwing us out into the punishing sun to expire, like we deserve?

  43. 43.

    magurakurin

    @Citizen Alan: the nightmare is upon us. And we did it all ourselves. The North Pacific Garbage patch is now three times the size of France/Texas. And it’s growing. Millions and millions of tons of plastic. The oceans are dying and it’s got nothing to do with Donald fucking Trump. He is the symptom. We humans are the motherfucking disease. And people ask me why I never had children…

  45. 45.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Tom Levenson: Do you have a new signature or something? Is something getting pasted in when you edit a post then publish the edits?
    Just trying to debug as I don’t think it’s the site.

  47. 47.

    magurakurin

    @Yutsano:

    Beijing still has regular pollution events that would be catastrophic anywhere else in the world.

    I live over 1,000 miles from Beijing and across the ocean, yet we get smog alerts and warnings from Beijing’s air pollution. That shit is bad, bad, bad.

  48. 48.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @magurakurin:

    We humans are the motherfucking disease. And people ask me why I never had children…

    In certain circles, this would earn you the brand of misanthropy.

  49. 49.

    Duane

    In the lead-up to the Iraq debacle, we were told a 5% chance of Saddam having WMDs meant we needed to act. The same logic should apply to climate change, a far greater threat. If it turns out climate change wasn’t real the worst result would be a better world.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    California, with our ninth of the US population, continues leading the way with renewables. Here are yesterday’s data. At some point the…smarter “conservatives” will find themselves admitting a power grid sourced primarily from renewable energy sources is fvcking great for bidnez and the economy. The rest of us will also relish literally breathing easier.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: Yes. But there’s no way the Senate isn’t going to confirm a just promoted 2 star who has, among other things, served as the personal physician to two presidents.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @magurakurin:

    And people ask me why I never had children.

    I got married in 1964. My husband and I knew from jump that we didn’t want children. I’m sure they’re a great joy, and I don’t for a minute fault those who have made a different choice, but I’ve never once regretted going childless.

  61. 61.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    Yeah, you can. A case in point, the pre-atomic age vs. Now, is a form of radionuclied dating, or perchclorate, or the Porter Ranch methane leaks, or the Archema plant explosion in Huston.

    Don’t worry, Pruitt’s EPA has the problem of persistent ground and water contamination from spills and flooding in Huston covered. They’re just not testing for it, because that might require remediation and drinking water treatment, and that costs money.

  63. 63.

    tobie

    @schrodingers_cat: My French colleagues felt the arms sale was part of a new-found militarism in India and France. France of course has a big weapons industry and sells arms far and wide, so I don’t know what about this deal was particularly troubling. I’d need to look into that.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    My car is a regular gasoline Subaru, but my commute is so short that the service guy at the dealership asked me at my last oil change, “So do you ever take it out of the garage?”

    If I ever end up with a longer commute, I would seriously consider a hybrid.

  69. 69.

    schrodingers_cat

    @tobie: What is the evidence of India’s new found militarism? India is in a hostile neighborhood. Not a Modi fan and his domestic initiatives are hokey at best and he has unsavory and questionable political allies but I haven’t observed a huge change in India’s foreign policy.

  70. 70.

    chris

    @Adam L Silverman: The admiral won’t be an admiral if he gets to the confirmation stage according to this UTexas law prof:

    Just to be clear, under the 1870 dual-officeholding ban, Rear Admiral Jackson will have to resign from the Navy before he can be sworn in as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. https://t.co/tzfDVqraUe— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) 28 March 2018

    I wonder if he’s willing to do that to serve at the whim of the shitgibbon.

  71. 71.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    You probably don’t drive it far enough in stop-and-go traffic — apparently you get the best mileage over drives of 30+ miles.

    One of my coworkers used to commute from Irvine to Glendale in his Prius, and then he moved to Burbank. Shorter commute by far, but much lower MPG.

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chris: Okay. I can’t imagine he’s pleased about just getting his second star and then having to resign his commission.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Depends on if he’s a true believer Trumpist or not. So far, all indications are “yes,” unfortunately.

    Either that, or Trump is spouting off at random again and Jackson is desperately trying to figure out what the hell is going on and how to turn down the “honor.”

  75. 75.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Wasn’t he just “nominated” on the 23rd? Doesn’t it take a while until the star is actually awarded? (Congress has to approve it, doesn’t it?)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: I think the larger issue is going to be whether anyone has explained to the President and/or to RADM Jackson that in order to accept the nomination he has to retire. And retirement isn’t a fast process. There’s at least going to be a 90 day off ramp. He’s got to burn off any unused leave, which is going to add significant time as well. He may not be able to be sworn in for months even if they expedite his nomination through the Senate.

  77. 77.

    Patricia Kayden

    @E: Why do you assume that the kids born today will all believe in climate change? Rightwingers have kids too who they can indoctrinate to disbelieve the scientific concensus on climate change as much as they do.

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    Either that, or Trump is spouting off at random again and Jackson is desperately trying to figure out what the hell is going on and how to turn down the “honor.”

    Yeah, honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Trump just makes these decisions and tweets them out, and the people involved are all “Wait, WHUT? The fuck just happened there?” and then the shit’s in the fire without a paddle and there’s no way out.

    ETA an even more strained metaphor.

  80. 80.

    E

    @Patricia Kayden: Twenty years from now it will be very difficult not to “believe” in climate change. Even the right-wingers will believe in it — in order to get funding for their massive geoengineering projects to “fix” the problem. Which really will kill all of us.

  87. 87.

    chris

    Heh.

    One longtime Republican lobbyist offered a two-word prediction for Dr. Jackson’s chances of Senate confirmation: “Harriet Miers.”— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) 28 March 2018

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yeah, my doughty Kia (’09 Rondo) gets mediocre mileage (low 20s) because most of my driving is typically less than 10 miles a day, often less than 5. But when a bit of sustained highway driving gets added to the mix (pickup at Dulles, trip to Rehoboth Beach, etc.) the mileage goes up to about 30 mpg.

  89. 89.

    NotMax

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Diesel treading a shaky tightrope.

    …significant moves to ban diesels in Germany will inevitably lead to similar moves across Europe, with environmentalists and green politicians likely to crank up the pressure, already at a high pitch with Paris, Madrid and Athens all having committed to diesel bans by 2025. Source

  90. 90.

    Steeplejack

    I will defend Admiral Ronny Jackson a bit. First, if you get to be a flag officer (admiral or general) in any branch of the military you are de facto a good manager. Movie clichés notwithstanding, “the brass” are the C-level executives of large, high-tech organizations, and the vetting process to get there is fairly stringent (although not devoid of politics). Based on his career arc (Wikipedia), Jackson looks to be the equivalent of a regional vice president who got called back to headquarters to head up some special projects.

    Second, and I could be wrong here, it feels like (some) people have the idea that “personal physician to the president” is a sinecure where you sit around in a frock coat sipping sherry until the president needs to be bled with leeches for some reason or treated for an imbalance of the humors. (Okay, that could possibly be a full-time job with Trump.)

    And, speaking of which, I think Jackson perhaps took a tiny bit of unfair flak after Trump’s physical. All doctors have some dickish, “noncompliant” patients, and I’m sure Trump is an 11 on that scale. I could see Trump refusing to have his height or weight measured—“I’m 6'3"! I’m 239 pounds! Write it down!”—and Jackson just having to suck it. And he’s not in a position where he can fire the patient from his “practice.” I do wonder why he agreed to submit to that horrible press conference, though. I would have strained mightily—to the point of having myself bled with leeches—to avoid that.

    To close on a happy note: I have never been able to find out who it was, but I still cherish the memory of the unknown female reporter who asked Jackson at that press conference if he had examined Trump’s bone spurs and what was their current condition. He had a real “Ow! My balls!” moment with that. Good times.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: any chance he can just decline the “honor”? Particularly since the history of this Administration would seem to indicate he’ll just be fired by tweet in six months, anyway. I sure as hell would be saying, “thanks but no thanks” under the circumstances.

  93. 93.

    Mary G

    Coming to a confirmation hearing near you:Dem Senator: Dr. Jackson, are you aware that you are under oath?Jackson: Yes.Dem Senator: Good. Now, how did Trump really do on his mental health evaluation?— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 29, 2018

  96. 96.

    Steeplejack

    @Corner Stone:

    I’m not implying he would be a good appointment to the V.A. I just think some of the criticism has been a little over the top.

    Although Rachel Maddow just played a clip (for me—9:05 p.m. EDT) from that press conference where Jackson was a little more gung ho than I remember. Oh, well.

  97. 97.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: Dude said Trump’s ballsweat would be as Ambrosia. And that if he cut back on the cheeseburgers a little he could well live forever. Blessed genetics, dontcha know?
    Beyond the hyperbole. He does not work for the president. He works for us.

  98. 98.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: I’m not sure given he’s a serving officer. If he was ordered to take the job, then as long as he wears the uniform and the order is lawful, then he has to take it. Again, I’m not sure if he knows, let alone the President knows, that he would have to retire in order to take this position. And as a retiree, the President cannot order him to do anything. Or, rather, the President could, but RADM Jackson would not be obligated to oblige.

  99. 99.

    SectionH

    @magurakurin: I’m always a pessimist in my gut reactions, but try to keep it under control re politics and similar. But tbh, I’m possibly more worried about stuff going on with the oceans than the climate changes on land. I do have a son, and he has a daughter. But I think I’d be just about as angry and upset if I didn’t have kids. It’s such an amazing planet. Well, no – it’s such an amazing biosphere. The rock below is also damn interesting, but not in much danger. Unless our collective “bring on the meteor” cries bring on a Really Big One.

    By the way, can someone tell me who was the guest front pager who wrote about oceans and climate? His first one was good, but I knew a fair amount of what he covered there. I’d love to catch up with any more posts of his.

  103. 103.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack: @Corner Stone: Given what GOP staffers in Congress are already leaking about this nomination being the equivalent of Harriet Miers, if he resigns before he’s confirmed he’s a moron. A number of veteran’s organization are already indicating significant concern about the nomination and once again indicating they were not, as the stakeholders’ (veterans) representatives, consulted about it. On the other hand, for all we know he wanted to stop being the President’s physician, but the President won’t allow him to be reassigned, so this is his way to retire without it looking like he was bailing on the President.

  104. 104.

    BruceFromOhio

    On that note: top of the evening to the jackals. Open thread, y’all

    First, gotta do to the NRA what happened to ACORN.
    Next, gotta get everyone to the polls in November.
    Pruitt’s been a problem since forever. Added to the list, but that one’s gonna take a little longer.

    … the good stuff takes longer, gotta keep telling myself, the good stuff takes longer ….

  105. 105.

    momus

    The Beer-Lambert law of molecular absorption of energy has its origins in the 1720s, but I guess it remains suspect to the Trumpistas because the original papers were in French.

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