Neil Young On The Climate Crisis-- "Obama Was A Huge Letdown"

Neil Young said he doesn't feel-- at least not in the fight against the Climate Crisis-- like Obama was "great and Trump sucks. I don't feel that way." He feels they both suck. "I know Obama was more aligned with the way I think. But he didn't do anything... they're both losers. This one's a loser; the last one was a loser. "The time to do something has been now for the last 50 years and no one's doing anything."

Last month Neil announced, at age 74, he was finally becoming a U.S. citizen. "I’ve passed all the tests; I’ve got my appointment, and if everything goes as planned, I’ll be taking the oath of citizenship... I’ll be able to vote... I live down here; I pay taxes down here; my beautiful family is all down here-- they’re all Americans, so I want to register my opinion." He's been registered his opinions in his songs for 5 decades-- from "Ohio" to "Southern Man" before most American citizens were born to, "Monsanto Years" and, from his newest album, Colorado, "Shut It Down"-- but now he wants to do it at the ballot box. This one, "Vampire Blues," was from 1974, when he was already warning about environmental degradation:





In 1968 Neil was arrested-- along with Eric Clapton, Jim Messina, Richie Furay and others-- while jamming too loud at Stephen Stills’ house in Topanga Canyon. He'd only been living in the U.S. for 2 years. Now he's been here for over 50 and his attempt to become naturalized had been delayed due to the "good moral character" provision on the immigrant application triggered when he has admitted to smoking marijuana. His application is now in limbo inside the Trump Swamp. He missed being naturalized on his 74th birthday earlier this month.

Last time around, though he wasn't able to vote, Neil was a dedicated Bernie supporter. "I’m with Bernie all the way. Hillary definitely has experience, but Bernie’s the one I believe. I agree with his message, and my way of thinking is more important to me than whether the media thinks Bernie Sanders has a chance at winning. So many people love him. There’s a lot of people like me who are really concerned about the issues-- Bernie’s the guy for that."

Ironically, Trump has seen Neil concerts and once told Rolling Stone "He’s got something very special. I’ve met him on occasions and he’s a terrific guy." You may wonder who Neil plans to vote for-- or perhaps you don't-- but if Neil follows Paul Krugman, there's every reason in them world to believe he is eager to help vote Trump out of office. "Given what we’ve seen in the impeachment hearings so far," wrote Krugman Saturday, "there is literally no crime, no abuse of power, that would induce Republicans to turn on President Donald Trump. So if you’re waiting for some dramatic political turn, don’t hold your breath. On second thought, however, maybe you should hold your breath. For air quality has deteriorated significantly over the past few years-- a deterioration that has already cost thousands of American lives. And if Trump remains in power, the air will get much worse, and the death toll rise dramatically, in the years ahead... [T]he Trump-era death toll from worsening air is already several times as large as the 'carnage' Trump decried. It seems crass to point this out, but the economic cost of rising pollution is also large; the study puts it at $89 billion a year. This is a pretty big number, even in an economy as large as America’s, and it means that economic growth under Trump, properly measured, has been significantly slower than standard numbers suggest. And things are poised to get much worse. The Trump administration is working on new rules that would effectively prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from making use of much of the scientific evidence on adverse health effects of pollution. This would cripple environmental regulation, almost surely leading to sharply worsening air and water quality over time... Today’s Republican Party isn’t just a party that has embraced crazy conspiracy theories about global warming (and everything else where the facts are inconvenient.) It has also become the party of pollution... This, by the way, is one reason I and others find it so mind-boggling when people like Joe Biden say that everything will be fine once Trump is gone. If Trump doesn’t succeed in destroying our democracy (a big if), his most damaging legacy will be the vast environmental destruction he leaves behind. And Trump’s pro-pollution stance isn’t an aberration. In this, he is very much a man of his party." 

Now, just remember, Neil didn't write this now-classic song about Trump, despite what you hear in the lyrics: