Kate Bartholomew, Atlantic Chapter Chair
I confess over these past four years to feeling a certain empathy for Priam’s daughter, the mythological Cassandra, bestowed with the gift of prophecy but fated never to be believed. By no means do I aspire to so lofty a distinction but, ever since November 2016, I’ve been warning all who would listen what the dangerous implications of this administration could be for our nation and the world . . . and look where we are now.
In less than 45 months, the oval office has bulldozed through environmental, civil rights, health care, immigration, economic policies like a two-year-old in a temper tantrum on steroids. Landmark regulatory acts, like the Clean Water Rule and Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the National Environmental Policy Act might as well have been faded tissue paper streamers for all the respect they were given. And then began the ramp-up to build the environmentally devastating Border Wall.
Almost immediately after moving into the White House, the current resident began the process of withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. He also began the process of defunding, disempowering or discrediting federal agencies by hamstringing and gagging the employees, cutting funding and choosing people to lead the agencies whose core values were often, at best, completely disinterested in the agency they were going to lead. This was the fate of the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Agriculture and the Department of State, to list some of those that rise to the surface of the quagmire.
It’s not just the environment that has been targeted. Let’s not forget the ever-lengthening list of travel ban countries and their similar characteristics, or rescinding DACA, or the policy separating families at the border, or rescinding Title IX guidance clarifying protections for transgender students, or defunding Planned Parenthood, or withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council, or . . . the list is seemingly endless.
I’ll end the litany with a somber tribute to those who have and are suffering through this covid-19 pandemic. Whether our 200,000+ mortality can be laid at the feet of any set of actors, I think it is fair to argue that dismantling a National Pandemic Task Force might not have ranked up there as a wise move for a self-proclaimed genius.
At long last, there is enormous energy and vitality — and justifiable anger. A solution to reclaim the direction of our nation and the planet is just a few short weeks away on November 3, 2020, when you can make your will known at the local, state and national levels. Choose the leaders YOU want to represent you. And you need not wait until November 3 to vote: there are three separate options available for all New York State voters this year because of the pandemic. You can:
1. Request an Absentee Ballot.
2. Vote early, beginning daily October 24 through November 1, at one of the designated polling places in your county.
3. Vote as you normally would on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
Check out the details at your county Board of Elections online. The number of early voting locations varies by county population. I live in a county with very few residents, so we only have one early voting location.
One final issue I want to raise because it’s something I’ve heard rumbling in the background more frequently in the last few years — especially since the emergence of the Me Too Movement and now Black Lives Matter. The gist of the murmured discontent follows the basic thread of “we’re an environmental organization, not a . . .” You can supply the descriptor, be it social justice, gender equity, racial justice, voting rights organization.
That’s when I pause and realize how terrifying this change and upheaval is for everyone. It’s mind-boggling to recognize that racism, sexism, environmental destruction and abuse all have their root cause in a willingness to detach from and exploit the other. It’s terrifying to recognize that unconsciously I have participated in a system that has enslaved and oppressed People of Color and Indigenous People for hundreds of years.
By owning that and actively working to change myself and that system, I can hope to become part of that vibrant kaleidoscope of strength, compassion, equity and power that will change and heal the planet. So can you.
Return to the Fall 2020 Sierra Atlantic