Under Trump, The Republican War On Science Has Been Succeeding-- And Just When Mankind Needs Science Most

A couple of days ago, a friend sent me a blistering note excoriating me for using the picture of Trump above. That isn’t why I’m running it again-- at least not the entire reason. This absolutely crucial piece in the NY Times hadn’t run yet but the perspective it conveys is exactly why the Trump-Morlock portrait is so perfect and so appropriate. The illustration does H.G. Wells proud.

"In just three years, the Trump administration has diminished the role of science in federal policymaking while halting or disrupting research projects nationwide, marking a transformation of the federal government whose effects, experts say, could reverberate for years. Political appointees have shut down government studies, reduced the influence of scientists over regulatory decisions and in some cases pressured researchers not to speak publicly. The administration has particularly challenged scientific findings related to the environment and public health opposed by industries such as oil drilling and coal mining. It has also impeded research around human-caused climate change, which President Trump has dismissed despite a global scientific consensus."





Are Trump and his supporters the equivalent of Wells’ Morlocks? Do you think the Climate Crisis is an existential threat to humanity? I asked a few of the candidates campaigning on a Green New Deal platform exactly that question. Rachel Ventura, a member of the Will County Board, was originally inspired to run for Congress for two big reasons: Medicare-for-All and the Climate Crisis. The district’s useless New Dem incumbent, Bill Foster isn’t interested in working on either issue and is, in fact, hostile to progressive policy solutions. Rachel responded to my question very simply: “Yes the climate crisis is an existential threat to humanity.” And the went on in some detail-- including the video below:

I am supporting the Green New Deal because I envision using healthy tax incentives or direct rebates for people to make their homes more energy efficient, incentives to buy EV’s or hybrid vehicles and incentives to use wind or solar when it makes sense geographically. The same tax levers could be used for businesses and municipalities who want to make their automobile fleets electric or improve the efficiency of the building envelope, or HVAC system. Lastly, the Green New Deal is a large-scale jobs package that will put people back to work with a federal job guarantee that pays living wages. There is a jobs training program to transition people who are working in the fossil fuel industry over to green collar jobs. The focus is to reward people, businesses and municipalities who make carbon-free decisions.

Bill Foster supports the Use It Act and the 100% Clean Economy Act. The USE IT ACT appropriates $50 million of taxpayer money to capture carbon and use the carbon + water to push more oil out of the ground through a process called Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Researchers have shown that this is far from being a "carbon neutral" process even though scientists who work for the fossil fuel industry claim it is.

The 100% Clean Economy act may sound good because it uses some of the same "findings" as the Green New Deal, but the bill doesn't clearly transition to renewable energy. Instead it creates a carbon balance sheet that requires carbon producers to sequester that carbon through the use of carbon sinks or other means. The goal is to get to a zero-carbon balance. The bill is not clear about who will get tax incentives, but it is most likely the fossil fuel industry that will be asking the taxpayers to fund their continued existence and pay for the catastrophe that they created. The remainder of the bill defines the federal agency so various entities can have a seat at the table.

Unlike my opponent, I believe that we need to leave oil in the ground, and I oppose the expansion of new fossil fuel infrastructure (pipelines or otherwise). We need to make companies that profited from pollution, pay to clean that pollution up. I have taken the no fossil fuel money pledge and am also not taking corporate PAC dollars.

In this 1-minute video I explain the difference between the Green New Deal and a fossil fuel bailout bill that my opponent supports called "The USE IT ACT.”

Similarly, Liam O’Mara is the progressive Democrat running to represent Riverside County residents in a district held by useless conservative Trumpist (and long-time crook) Kevin Calvert, a notorious climate change denier. O’Mara teaches history in a university and respects science for what it is. "Global warming, left unchallenged," he told us, “is an existential threat to life on earth. It requires changes in the way we conduct business, and in the products and resources we use, and it demands serious innovation. Ken Calvert has a 5% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, and while he pays lip-service to renewable energy sources, he opposes the needed investment, and continues to support expansion of fossil fuel extraction and subsidies for polluting industries. We need a Green New Deal to transform our energy infrastructure, and unless he is replaced Calvert will remain a road block to any serious effort to combat climate change."

Eva Putzova is running for Congress in a vast ecologically-vulnerable Arizona district whose current rep, Blue Dog Tom O'Halleran, was formerly a Climate denying state legislator. He's changed the "R" next to his name to a "D" but he hasn't changed what he believes. "The climate crisis is an existential threat to humanity," said Eva without hesitation. "I support the Green New Deal which is the very least we can do to start addressing the problem of the ever-rising levels of C02 in our atmosphere. My opponent, the incumbent, opposes the Green New Deal or any large scale effort to address the climate crisis. He is part of the practical-do-nothing-corporate wing of the Democratic Party that is more concerned with business profits and mindless growth than with the fate of the earth. He, and all the other blue dog Democrats need to be replaced!"

Please consider helming Eva, Liam and Rachel do just that by clicking on the Blue America thermometer above and contributing what you can. Saving the planet is real and we all do what we can. Contributing $10 or $20 to candidates like this trio who will replace Climate Crisis deniers is one way to pitch in-- and relatively easy way at that.