By Reggie James
Perhaps I missed it, but I do not recall hearing much about the environment this election cycle. Climate disruption and the Paris Climate agreement received short shrift, likewise, local issues like drinking water contamination and the failure of a core function of government in Flint, Michigan. The debates in races up and down the ballot focused more on personalities and hot button issues than addressing serious, long and short term problems that will plague generations to come.
In all fairness, I did hear candidate Donald Trump address climate change in the negative, as in, it’s a hoax. Now, President-Elect Trump may appoint prominent climate denier Myron Ebell or Texas oil and gas flack Kathleen Hartnett-White to the EPA. We have faced obstructionism in Washington for close to a decade, but with all branches of the Federal government likely to be under one party, it will more closely resemble Texas’s one party rule - overly solicitous to the industries it must regulate to protect the public and the environment. (Historical note: I recall when Democrats controlled all of Texas’s state government and industry consistently fed at the state trough at the public’s expense.)
Here at home, I wasn’t surprised that in statewide races we didn’t hear much about the 51,000 Texans served by drinking water systems that exceed federal limits for arsenic, nor groundwater contamination or earthquakes associated with deep well injection of fracking wastes. Part of the reason why may be that so few seats are contested thanks to gerrymandering.
I know I sound pessimistic, but I am not. While I cannot claim optimism, I do hold out hope that there are enough clear thinking, good people who care about what our children will inherit and will not stand idly by while state and national governments allow a corporate feeding frenzy on the future of our natural heritage. There is much to do. Local governments in Texas have stepped up to the plate. Recall the city of Denton trying to protect its citizens by regulating fracking and deep-well injection in the absence of responsible state or federal oversight. It wasn’t just state inaction. The Texas Legislature passed and Governor Abbott signed a law taking away the freedom of Denton and other local governments to defend their citizens from serious risks to human health and property.
We expect to see efforts at the national and state level to undermine cities and counties who dare to protect the public and environment. It may look gloomy, but you are not powerless. Here are a few things you can do:
- Support local governments to fulfill the most basic governmental duties to their constituents and local environment.
- Hold your state representative and state senator accountable for acting contrary to public and environmental interests - phone calls, petitions, emails. Here’s where to find them.
- Write letters to the editor, comment on social media to show support for clean air and water and preservation and protection of public lands.
- Use your consumer power by purchasing sustainable products whenever possible.
- Witness and enjoy what we have to protect by visiting state and local parks and wilderness areas as often as you can.
- Show solidarity by participating in peaceful protests against injustice, intolerance. Here’s one Thursday in Austin.
- Volunteer with a regional Sierra Club group and/or get engaged in local efforts.
- Financially support the Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club and other organizations working to protect the environment.
Together we can do what must be done. We have something to lose that if lost cannot be regained!