While there’s more to quality of life than just environmental threats and humans are still better off today than at any other point in history,
Do we have to make this pointless statement every single time we criticize Trump?
I agree climate change is probably the most pressing issue for us as a species and it’s unfortunate that bad politics could end up wrecking the planet.
Unfortunate? It’s not just politicians. It’s primarily to blame on a willfully ignorant population that votes for people like Trump. Even Hillary, although she would’ve been better, was still incredibly weak on environmentalism. There’s also a lot of corporate propaganda in conservative-leaning media that spread outright lies about climate change. I’ve noticed lately that they’re back to spreading the lie that climate change is a total myth. I think it should be illegal to publish fraudulent studies about climate change, kind of like how it’s illegal for tobacco companies to publish fraudulent studies that cigarettes won’t destroy your lungs.
Although I disagree with them, I could sorta understand people supporting politicians that deny climate change. The science isn’t obvious to the layman (it’s not even obvious to scientists in different fields), and expecting layfolks to assess the scientific research process itself is just as tenuous. But what I do not understand is the voters’ support for the repeal of protections on obvious things like clean water, clean air, national monuments, etc. That stuff affects people directly and in the short term, as do protections against bank and loan fraud. And wanting to dismantle the EPA? Geez! The willingness of voters to go along with those sorts of things, when the only positive is quick corporate profits for the mega-rich, has me questioning the basic validity of our political system. (And, the utter failure of our national education.)
Having traveled a large swath of the world and having had the chance to chat with a wide range of people of all types and backgrounds around the globe, I am convinced that American pride in its “greatness” is naive at best. We’ve got an uneducated and at times degenerate underbelly that politicians are getting very good at exploiting for their own personal profit. Whereas a good half of our population is oblivious to it, I can assure you that the rest of the world is not.