Letters to the editor

A good time to stop breathing When a nation succumbs to the dictates of an autocratic leader who has surrounded himself with the wealthiest of oligarchs, that country is indeed in very serious trouble. This is especially relevant when the most important national and global science issues are under that autocrat's control. Our undeserving and underserving leader has recently announced that he will be doing away with the 2009 regulation known as the "endangerment finding," which brought together the best of climate science at that time to state that "carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gasses are supercharging storms, wildfires, drought, heat waves and sea level rise and are therefore threatening public health and welfare. The government is thus required to regulate these gases that result primarily from the burning of oil, gas and coal." These findings have been well-documented in the ensuing sixteen years. Led by two major Trump allies, Russell Vought and Jeffery Clark (who refers to climate science as a "Leninist plot") along with lawyers and scientists affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, 17 years of fighting to help the lives of all of our citizens is now to be wiped out for the short-term benefit of the wealthiest. Our president will certainly gain financially, as he seems to do with all of his White House dealings. I am very much reminded of the long-term fight to regulate the tobacco industry. The scientific community knew that tars and nicotine associated with smoking caused cancer, but for years the powerful industries used lawyers and well-paid scientists to obstruct positive action. It is the same today with climate change, with one big exception: back in the tobacco days, no one made you smoke or chew. If you didn't want your health damaged you could escape much of secondhand smoke. Today, however, we cannot escape the environment. If your home and business is in the middle of a drought area or a coming hurricane or asthma-causing smoke pollution from fires there is no getting away. We breath what the government has chosen for us; under the rules of endangerment findings there were substantial efforts being made to improve that air. Now, with the elimination of all regulations, we will be breathing many more toxins and pathogens. Human disease will skyrocket, especially among the young and the elderly. I have also read reports that the removal of these critical air safety regulations are being handled by White House lawyers in such a way that future administrations will not be able to cancel the damage that is being done. Thank you, Mr. Trump: with every self-serving change you make you solidify your title as the Worst President in History. Bob Murray Tiffin