Nancy Braus, until recently an independent bookseller, is a longtime activist who contributes often to these pages.
GUILFORD-Millions of Americans are aware and trying to do the small and large things we can to try to preserve life on Earth in the face of a bullet train of terrible news about our climate and the natural world.
Some of us bike instead of drive when we can; millions of homes and businesses have installed solar panels; many of us try our best to minimize buying single-use plastic; and so much more.
The current presidential administration has not been great on this issue (the Willow Project, an oil drilling project in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, is one example). But it was also the first to actually address the issue of climate change - some aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act might actually help reduce some emissions.
It's too late to avoid many consequences, but we still can lower carbon emissions and keep the worst from happening.
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Donald Trump and his merry band of deluded rubes consider any attempts to save what remains of the natural systems that allow the Earth to support life as "woke," and therefore not part of their twisted goal of "owning the libs."
I have recently encountered a new term for these amazing nature-hating monsters: "vice-signalers." They are the creeps blowing smoke from their gas-guzzling pickups.
The idea that the MAGA cult openly supports the destruction of life on Earth was recently brought into full view when Donald Trump offered perhaps the most disgusting quid pro quo of his pathetically transactional career: If any oil and gas executives want to give him $1 billion out of the goodness of their nonexistent hearts, he pledged to insure that any and all measures to de-carbonize the environment will go away.
This was done in a very open manner - there was no attempt to hide the incredible level of corruption this offer entails.
So, Mr. "Drain the Swamp" is offering a closed-room deal to the wealthiest men in the world, men who have likely already built their own bunkers in the Rockies or New Zealand, where the super-rich calculate they can survive.
Rubes like us can all perish as the winds, the ocean currents, the seasons, all go completely awry in the face of the daily onslaught of carbon and methane in the atmosphere.
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Until about 20 years ago, I was naïve enough to believe that even the super-rich would decide to join the rest of us and actually care that we might not have a livable planet if we don't work together to make the very possible changes we need to move forward.
It has become crystal clear that the move toward fascism in the United States also involves the complete destruction of nature - they seem to hate animals and national parks, among other obsessions.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's vile tale about killing a puppy was written to impress the MAGA king, so she could catch his eye as a potential vice-presidential candidate.
This fits with the many photographs of Beavis and Butt-Head, Trump's older sons, posing with endangered species that they killed in shooting galleries where the animals are essentially presented on a platter to be shot by the truly heartless.
The MAGA cult spreads disinformation about the climate on all social media platforms. According to a USA Today investigation from January, of all the social media sites, only YouTube actually attempts to prioritize content that is true. Disinformation rules on all the other sites.
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Two huge points emerge here: As with so much of Donald Trump's influence on the cult, reality is not a thing. Anyone living on the planet at this moment has experienced the effects of climate change, from the excessive summer heat to the flooding that has hit Houston, Vermont, and so many other places; to the inhalation of smoke from the previously unheard of Canadian wildfires; to the lack of winter snow.
The Trump followers will always believe his lies before they believe the evidence of their own experiences. This is a terrifying feature of cults: They have substituted their own judgment for that of the dear leader.
The second point is that all the silly hype built up by the Tucker Carlsons of the far-right universe - the frenzy over Bud Lite, green M&Ms, and so many other distractions - are being used for a reason.
It is pretty easy to distract the constant viewers of Fox and Newsmax from the real story they might see if they actually ventured out of their houses and into the physical world.
Donald Trump seems to be fixated on the level of water in the toilets - low-flow toilets that are so necessary in places like [email protected].