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Richard Thomas is a recently retired psychologist and climate activist in Waterville.
America’s gradual loss of democracy worries me, as our executive branch is taking over the powers of our Congress and courts. But I am much more worried about President Donald Trump’s slashing of renewable energy and his giveaways to the fossil fuel industry.
Countries have been turned into dictatorships and eventually freed themselves in the past. Millions of people could be harmed or killed by Trump’s policies, but his reign will not last forever. And if we show enough courage, we could remake an American democracy, better than before.
Last year, the fossil fuel industry gave $219 million, mostly to help elect Trump and the Republican congressional majority, according to Yale Climate Connections. Now this industry is getting its payoff. The president is trying to stop the transition to renewable energy at a time when climate change is becoming more dangerous. And we are passing environmental tipping points now, which means that even when we switch completely to renewable energy, our climate will continue to get worse for some time.
We are all spectators to a race that will determine the fate of our children. One racer is climate change, and the world’s best scientists tell us that this is accelerating faster than expected. The other racer is renewable energy, and it is also growing faster than expected, because renewable energy is now cheaper than fossil fuels.
However, there will be no decisive winner of this race, as both racers will continue running. One day, the buildup of renewable energy may be complete, but our climate will be far more disrupted than it is today. This is inevitable. What is not yet clear is whether the human race will be able to adjust to the damaged climate. We should be improving our families’ chances of surviving and having good lives by accelerating our efforts to stop climate change, not by halting these efforts.
The steps we take today to reduce climate change will have much more impact than the steps we take years from now. All of this is to say that the president is endangering and harming our families’ lives when he does the bidding of the fossil fuel industry, protecting them from their competition.
We must ask Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins and our U.S. House representatives, Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree, to push harder to protect the climate legislation that was starting to safeguard our children. The government’s first obligation is to keep us safe.
Watch the weather and remember this issue when you vote next year.
