Tag: Environment

EPA Cuts Cause Potential For Real Harm

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EPA Cuts Cause Potential For Real Harm

D. S. Mitchell

Calamity Politics is a progressive political blog that’s main intention is to improve people’s lives. I’m here again, uncensored and irreverent, raising hell and screaming for attention. I know I’m about 3200 miles from Washington, D.C. but I pray people are aware of the perilous and irresponsible attack on the EPA that is taking place at the hands of the Trump Administration.  The Environmental Defense Fund states flatly, “No federal agency has been singled out for such a large and pernicious budget cut as the EPA”.

Approximately 90% of the American people support strong environmental protections.  It is an all hands on deck emergency if we will be able to stop President Trump’s efforts to gut the EPA budget, thus eliminating many core environmental safeguards. The government has been transferred into the hands of anti-environment extremists whose goal is profit through fossil fuel extraction over the lives of wildlife and our historic national park system.

Trump and the Congress seem to be on a mission to kill our national parks and destroy our environmental protections.  Many lobbyists are sent to Washington paid to convince legislators that relaxing restrictions on the millions of acres of National Parks land would be an economic boom for the country.  The goal seems to be directed toward shifting control from the federal government to the individual states, where those treasured resources can be sold, or licensed to the highest bidder for the systematic extraction of gold, silver, oil, gas, coal, and timber.

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Butterflies and Memories

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Butterflies and Memories

D. S. Mitchell

A Public Warning

Back in 2016 more than 26,000 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers issued a warning to the people of the United States. These mental health professionals were warning the public that, in their collective opinion, Donald Trump had a serious mental illness. They further requested the Congress remove him from office, based on Article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Damn Scary

OMG. Pretty, damn scary stuff, if you ask me. I’ve followed politics all my life, and the only other time I have heard people question a U.S. president’s mental health was during the late stages of the Richard Nixon’s tenure.  At that time stories of Nixon’s nightly drinking and paranoia was fodder for a frenzied media.

Sharing Something Beautiful

With all that said, you might think today I would stoke up the fires on that story, but because I’m in charge here, I am going to discuss a lovely short essay, by Jennifer S. Kushnier. I originally saw it printed in one of those little books you see at Hallmark card stores. You know, the kind. They are usually really small and have lots of cool art, quotes, short stories or essays.

Anyway, this little essay by Ms. Kushnier  reminded me of my childhood. When I was a kid, even in city neighborhoods there were plenty of vacant lots, some were quite big, really open undeveloped fields where beautiful things happened. Thank you Jennifer, your piece was lovely and charming.

Butterflies by Jennifer S. Kushnier

Jennifer began her essay with the lines, “All kinds of wildflowers prospered there, from ivory Queen Anne’s lace and purple Clover, to yellow Buttercups and Black-eyed Susan’s, to burnt orange Indian Paintbrushes and those light-blue flowers that seem to be so rare these days. To this field came dozens of butterflies.”

Island Life

That little essay takes me to another time, a distant point in my childhood. When I too was very young. At that time my family lived on a dairy farm on a picturesque island. Sauvie’s Island is an amazing piece of land caught between the Willamette River and the Columbia River in NW Oregon, about 20 miles west of Portland, Oregon. Most of the island is a huge wildlife refuge with a few farms, even today, in this busy industrialized time.

Protect What We Love

I can remember when the birds would take to the air, a sunny day went black. Today, on this protected island the sky will never be so full of birds that the sky is black with their bounty. How long before the Monarch’s will be gone forever, and the Wood Duck a mere memory? I think it is imperative that we challenge the Trump Administration at every turn as they push their fossil fuel agenda. It is dangerous for the environment. A threat to wildlife, a risk to our water supply. The gutting of the EPA could potentially poison everything we know and love. If you love the sight of a Monarch butterfly in flight, if you love the sound of a woodpecker, if you love the beauty of a Wood Duck floating on a pond, if you love the sight of an Eagle on the wing, you are not alone. Please, stand up, speak out, and stop the threat to all the wild places by the fossil fuel pushing madman.

Thank you Jennifer S. Kushnier. I have tried to find you but I have not seen anything else you have written, but this little piece was just perfect.

ENDANGERED

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ENDANGERED

By D. S. Mitchell

“When the environment is destroyed, plundered or mismanaged, we undermine our quality of life and that of future generations. (Wangari Maathai/Nobel lecture)

It was 63.5 F in Antarctica on 3/1/2017.

Working For Lobbyists

The new director of the EPA was carefully chosen for this job.  He’s the former Oklahoma Attorney General that sued the EPA fourteen times. Scott Pruitt copied letters written by oil lobbyists on to Oklahoma State stationary and then sent that paperwork to the EPA as support data.  Pruitt is the guy that’s under court order to surrender thousands of emails from his time as Oklahoma AG. Another slow brewing scandal. Trump knows how to pick them.

21st Century Robber Barons

Not satisfied to remain a small state corrupt official, Pruitt wants to get to the big time. He thinks he will go far under Master Trump’s tutelage.  Pruitt and his fossil fuel cronies plan to eat the agency from within.  The Robber Barons of 19th century America have risen. These 21st century zombies are holding powerful positions in this corrupt, pay-to-play administration. Pruitt is an outspoken supporter of dirty energy, calling it “representative government.”

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ASSAULT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

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Assault On The Environment

D. S. Mitchell

Iron Eyes Cody

The first time I can remember, actually thinking about pollution, I was watching a ‘Keep America Beautiful’ campaign, in which Iron Eyes Cody, had a bag of garbage thrown from a car, land at his feet. Iron Eyes, in full American Indian regalia, looks into the camera, and I watched as a tear rolled down his cheek. That was probably 1968 or 1970. Very powerful.

A Drawer Of Bags

The Iron Eyes Cody series of commercials made a big impact on me, and I made sure I never threw garbage out the window of my car, again. I also, discovered recycling, something my Mother had done for years. My Mom lived thru two World Wars, and a near country collapsing economic Great Depression. She had a drawer for the perfectly folded paper bags. There was a another drawer where she stored a ball of rubber bands, a giant ball of string, and sheets of aluminum foil layed flat. She had learned to recycle out of necessity, rather than as an environmentally beneficial behavior. Although her purpose was different from mine, the results of her actions were good. The thought of garbage on the roadside, toxic waste in rivers, polluted air, brings a tear to my eye.

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