By Martyn Roetter
The EPA’s latest climate change report makes sobering reading. Among its conclusions are:
1. The indicators in this report present compelling evidence that the composition of the atmosphere and many fundamental aspects of our climate in the US are changing.
2. Climate change is affecting the environment in ways that have significant impacts on the health and well-being of people and ecosystems. For example, as temperatures increase, the frequency of extreme heat days and heat waves also increases, which puts people at greater risk for heat-related illnesses and deaths.
3. Less snowpack and increased glacier melt affect water resources for both ecosystems and human use.
4. Changes in the timing and character of seasons affect the number of days suitable for growing crops and increase pollen that triggers seasonal allergies. These changes will not be experienced equally, as some communities have faced and will continue to face disproportionate impacts of climate change due to existing vulnerabilities, including socioeconomic disparities, historical patterns of inequity, and systemic environmental injustices.
Distressingly recent rulings of the Supreme Court risk hobbling the power of the EPA to introduce and enforce rules and regulations to reduce the emissions from our uses of fossil fuels. See for example “A String of Supreme Court Decisions Hits Hard at Environmental Rules” (Coral Davenport, The New York Times, June 29, 2024). The manifest ignorance of these judges about very complex technical issues and their belief that the Clean Air Act does not empower the EPA to issue regulations covering emissions of pollutants from sources such as power plants and industrial facilities in the face of known climate science is astounding and appalling. Constitutional arguments are used to justify this decision, in effect turning the Constitution into a weapon to prevent effective action to ward off or mitigate the disastrous and hugely expensive consequences of climate warning such as the increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes, rainstorms, floods and heat waves.
How should we react and what actions can we take in these circumstances?
Realistically there is not much we can do for now about the irresponsible and reprehensible decisions of the US Supreme Court. But keep in mind the yawning gap between the announced policies of the two major political parties and their leaders when you vote in upcoming elections. One party has initiated and implemented policies to reduce emissions and pollution and tackle climate warming. The other does not seem to care and with their ideological supporters is looking for ways to stifle efforts to preserve our habitat and slow down or even reverse efforts to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as the source of the energy we need.
Vote for the candidates of the former to help make it more likely that policies which include effective climate actions will be pursued and laws enacted that even the majority in this Supreme Court will not be able to misinterpret as blatantly as they have been doing.
