Just A Game of Ping Pong: My Thoughts on Trump's "Energy Independence" Executive Order

On March 28th, the Trump administration published an executive order on energy independence. This incredibly verbose piece of work has a lot of pressing concerns intertwined, many of which probably went unnoticed to the general public. I would thus like to address some points.

First, there is this sort of "ping pong" effect going on, in which each new administration appears to just counteract the previous efforts. Whether you do not believe in (or find it convenient to deny) that climate change exists, the elimination of administrative efforts for protecting our planet in the long term is funereal. America is such a powerful country, designed to be a model of action for others, yet Trump has proven that he values a very independent and isolated country in terms of international involvement, especially from an environmental perspective.

Second, Trump wants to prop up the oil, gas, and coal industries at the expense of not only climate change mitigation, but also clean air, water, land, and wildlife and natural resources. One action in particular is his decision to lower the protections on federal land. Now, major energy companies (i.e. coal) can lease the land for their devious and earth-shattering efforts. He mentions "clean coal" as an effective energy source, but this activity actually releases even more carbon emissions, thus being a paradox in itself (there is nothing clean about this). The executive order revocation that struck me the most was number 13653: Preparing the US for the Impacts of Climate Change. This executive order directed federal agencies to prepare for climate change impacts and assist states and localities with resilience efforts. While there is still strong efforts for climate planning on a state level, it is incredibly discouraging to see the "higher" federal authority have no respect for our future.

While I know I am just one voice, I hope I have informed at least one person on the environmental issues at the forefront of Trump's agenda. We cannot let America'a carbon emissions continue to increase. We must invest in non-renewable energies and protect our lands--protect our people. We need to show that we actually care about our future. I cannot emphasis this enough.

For those of you interested in learning more about the executive order in full, I encourage you to read this, as the author Emily Hammond does a wonderful job transcribing the information into digestible content.