Real Birds: Birds & the Environment Lose the Election 

by Ken Gilliland

The one thing that the news services won’t be dwelling on the US 2016 elections is the biggest loser of the night, the environment.  The American public gave power to individual that have promised to repeal environmental protections from dismantling the EPA (which protects the air we breathe and water we drink) to delisting endangered species to decommissioning National Parks, Monuments and Preserves. Environment laws upheld by the US Supreme Court may soon be overturned thanks to the election.

 While 90% of American voters support the Endangered Species Act, 74% say that the federal government should be doing a substantial amount to combat climate change, and 72% say that national public lands, like forests and monuments, help their state economies, the people (for the most part) they’ve now elected into power don’t share those views.  Are you curious where your elected representatives stand on the environment? Check the League of Conservation Voters Environmental Scorecard.

 The newly elected 45th President of the United States has indicated he’ll work to reverse the progress made in the battle against climate change. From pulling out of the Paris climate agreement to promoting fossil fuels to limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to undoing President Obama’s work on the Clean Power Plan, Donald Trump’s proposed energy policies may gravely impact the environment.

 On the plus side, pulling out of the Paris agreement will take 4 years according the text of the treaty, allowing a newly elected President in 2020 to correct course.

 While everyone is talking about climate change-- that’s just part of the problem-- a much greater crisis is looming on our planet, mass extinction. It may be already too late to stop the huge crash in biodiversity, which some scientists believe foretells our own extinction within a 100 years or less.  Radical overhaul needed to halt Earth's sixth great extinction event  and  The Extinction Crisis