Alan Singer at the Huffington Post writes about the Trump Team Revives McCarthyism in War on the Environment. Singer writes, “Climate change deniers argue that the Earth’s climate sensitivity is so low that humans can use the atmosphere as a garbage dump pumping out carbon dioxide without worrying about global warming. Donald Trump has called climate change a ‘hoax’ and tweeted that ‘global warming’ is a plot by the Chinese ‘to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.’”
Here’s what I have a problem with. I can’t understand why almost everyone from both sides of the climate change issue only focuses on climate change and/or global warming, and ignores all of the other damage caused by the products of the fossil fuel industry: coal, oil, gasoline, diesel, etc.
Let’s take a break from flogging the ignorant, deplorable climate change deniers like Donald Trump, and his deplorable supporters and focus on the other dangers caused by the fossil fuel industry that can’t be denied.
Carbon emissions are also toxic to human health and lifespans. Without efforts to clean the air, this threat to our health will only increase.
A study from Stanford linked carbon dioxide emissions to increased deaths.
Acid rain, caused by fossil fuel emissions, kills life in lakes, rivers, the oceans, damages top soil, and cuts crop yields, etc.
The Policy Almanac reports, “Acid rain causes acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to damage of trees at high elevations (for example, red spruce trees above 2,000 feet) and many sensitive forest soils. In addition, acid rain accelerates the decay of building materials and paints, including irreplaceable buildings, statues, and sculptures that are part of our nation’s cultural heritage. Prior to falling to the earth, SO2 and NOx gases and their particulate matter derivatives, sulfates and nitrates, contribute to visibility degradation and harm public health.”
Then there is Carbon Monoxide poising. If you are the fossil fuel industry, Kremlin candidate like Donald Trump is, and you deny this danger, then I want you to sleep in your car with the engine running in a closed garage. Plan your funeral before you try that out.
The gains we learn about from this video is in danger from Donald Trump, and his deplorable followers
The CDC teaches us all about the symptoms of CO poisoning.
The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. CO symptoms are often described as “flu-like.” If you breathe in a lot of CO it can make you pass out or kill you. People who are sleeping or drunk can die from CO poisoning before they have symptoms.
Who is at risk from CO poisoning?
Everyone is at risk for CO poisoning. Infants, the elderly, people with chronic heart disease, anemia, or breathing problems are more likely to get sick from CO. Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not linked to fires, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, and more than 4,000 are hospitalized.
Then there is acidification of Earth’s oceans that are crucial to our health and survival as a species.
National Geographic teaches us that “For tens of millions of years, Earth’s oceans have maintained a relatively stable acidity level. It’s within this steady environment that the rich and varied web of life in today’s seas has arisen and flourished. But research shows that this ancient balance is being undone by a recent and rapid drop in surface pH that could have devastating global consequences.”
Humans also have a pH balance just like the environment, and if the pH balances of the environment we live in changes, the pH balance inside our body is at risk. The results are rampant disease and significantly reduced lifespan.
If you don’t believe that our pH balance is important, explain why Living Near Freeways Hurts Kids’ lungs.
The Washington Post reports, “Children growing up alongside freeways risk having their lung development impaired, which can increase the likelihood of serious respiratory diseases later in life, researchers report.”
“Exposure from tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles potentially carries chronic health risks to children’s lung development,” said lead researcher W. James Gauderman, an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. “We found that kids who live closer to freeways had significantly less lung capacity, compared with kids who lived further from freeways.”
And Donald Trump’s administration wants to get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency that protects all of us, not just the balance of the Earth’s environment that we all need to survive. Climate change/global warming is one thing but what about the survival of the human species and life as we know it that’s being ignored? I have no doubts that if only the earth was warming up, some humans would survive somewhere on the planet but no humans will survive if the delicate balance that supports our existence is destroyed.
I don’t think most if any rich people live near freeways and since so many of the wealthy are narcissists and psychopaths, they have no empathy for the suffering of children and families that live near freeways.
Why did the fossil fuel industry focus only on climate change and ignore all the other dangers that their products pose to life on Earth?
The evidence is overwhelming that climate change denial was a tactic to get our minds off of all the other dangers the fossil fuel industry’s products cause to our health, the quality of life, and our very existence.
U.S. life expectancy declines for the first time since 1993.
Who stops Donald Trump will go down in the history books as a global hero or heroes?
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Lloyd Lofthouse is a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam Veteran, with a BA in journalism and an MFA in writing, who taught in the public schools for thirty years (1975 – 2005).
Lofthouse’s first novel was the award winning historical fiction My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. His second novel was the award winning thriller Running with the Enemy followed by his award winning memoir Crazy is Normal.
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