On Nov. 5, the United States of America elected Donald Trump into office for the second time. Though many people choose their candidates based on economic and immigration policies, it seems that no one took into consideration environmental policies. Though the election is over, it does not mean it is any less important to spread awareness about the state of the environment, especially with the new presidency. Trump will hurt the environment in unrecoverable ways and set the world back on its path to healing the climate crisis.
President Trump has made it clear that he does not believe in global warming and that the climate crisis is “a scam.” According to BBC, Trump is quoted saying things like global warming is “mythical,” “nonexistent” or “an expensive hoax,” further proving that he does not plan to do anything other than reverse President Biden’s steps forward on climate change. Biden, in the four years of his presidency, has made big steps towards reaching the goal of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. In 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a piece of legislation that puts billions of dollars towards clean energy, electric vehicles and environmental justice. Trump has vowed to repeal the act.
President Trump has made it clear since running in 2016 that he plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty that almost 200 different countries have signed and that holds them accountable for climate change. The goal of the Paris Agreement is to reduce the global rise in temperature to below 2˚ celsius, a major decrease like this would mean significantly less impacts from global warming.
Without the Inflation Reduction Act and the Paris Agreement, emissions in the U.S. will increase at the same time that the U.S. is already leading the world in highest carbon emissions, and corporations and large companies around the country will not be held accountable for making environmentally-aware decisions. Without an increase in environmental awareness, the world will only see more wildfires, natural disasters, longer periods of drought and increased wind speeds.
The U.S. have already seen record breaking natural disasters just this summer. Hurricane Milton which landed itself as the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico and Hurricane Helene which is the third most fatal hurricane in the continental U.S. behind Hurricane Katrina (2005) and Camille (1969).
So what does this mean for Bend and other communities? The country has already seen a decrease in the consistency of snowfall in the winter and an increase of wildfires in the summertime. Bend residents are stuck in their homes due to smoke and are restricted from doing daily activities because of dangerous air quality. Americans will only see an increase in these events without action.
Unfortunately, Trump has a major influence on his followers. According to 538, a political organization, a whopping 44% of Americans support Trump and his policies. This means all of these people are going to be influenced to—or not to—make environmentally-aware choices. Though Oregon is a primarily blue state, most of the farming communities and communities outside of the major cities are red.
Local governments, such as the Bend City Council and the State of Oregon, have lots of influence over statewide and local environmental actions. In this past election, the state senator switched from a very conservative Republican to a climate-forward Democratic senator, Anthony Broadman. Though feeling defeated over the federal government, Neil Baunsgard, the Environmental Centers climate policy manager, is reaching for hope in the local government.
“Anthony Broadman will be able to represent Central Oregon and really try to move things forward in terms of climate and transportation,” he says. “I think that’s the area that I’m gonna focus on so that I can kind of maintain my optimism over the next 4 years.”
Though it is hard to not feel hopeless, it does not do any good to just stop trying. People should still push back and focus on the local changes and efforts when the federal government is failing them.
