Welcome to The Environmentalist, your column for understanding the natural world. Today we will be exploring fossil fuels and how the Trump administration may affect it.
“We’ll drill, baby, drill” is one of the statements made by the controversial President of the United States, Donald Trump, during his inauguration speech. With his term lasting until 2028, the United Nations’ sustainability goals aimed for 2030 seem as unattainable as ever. But why is it that even when the United States is one country, its politics have an immense international effect on the measures taken against climate change?
Fossil fuels are defined as hydrocarbons that originate within the Earth’s crust which can be used as a source of energy — mainly coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Burning fossil fuels has been proven to be the leading cause of climate change, therefore reducing their use has become one of the main focuses internationally.
The extraction and transportation of fossil fuels can result in irreversible oil spills that damage nearby ecosystems, destroy biodiversity, and affect people’s health. These oil spills can be so severe that they have been used as attacks during conflicts, such as with the 1991 Persian Gulf Oil Spill. The Iraqi forces, in an attempt to prevent U.S. forces from landing on the beaches of Kuwait, released a total of over 240 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf, causing the largest oil spill in history.
Moreover, fossil fuels are linked to a number of human rights violations, such as with food security and the coal mining industry in South Africa. Additionally, both active and unrehabilitated coal mines tend to pose a health risk due to water pollution, soil degradation, and perpetual fires.
All over the world, climate change has magnified existing inequalities. This is why the failure of governments to act on the environmental crisis, even when there is overwhelming evidence of its harm, might be the biggest intergenerational human rights violation in history.
The Trump administration seems determined to hook the world on fossil fuels for as long as possible: first by withdrawing from The Paris Agreement, and then declaring a national energy emergency — which supports fossil fuel infrastructure internationally. Furthermore, the administration has hindered renewable energy implementation such as offshore wind power development and reduced support for the electric vehicle industry. The most severe change seems to be that over 70 environmental regulations were rolled back, including some targeting emissions regulations and protection of air and water.
We should never brush off any action taken against the environment, even when they aren’t taken in our country; even when borders separate us, we all live on the same planet. As the Lorax once said, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.” So, let’s care.
