March 31, 2017
Dear Mr. President,
I've intentionally avoided writing to you about the
environment because it is an issue that I care very strongly about
whereas you are on record as saying, "The concept of global warming was
created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing
non-competitive." Given these polar
opposite beliefs, I didn't think there was any common ground to be found
between us. But now that you have begun
to dismantle key environmental initiatives and protective standards, the time
has come for us to face the elephant in the room – the environment.
There are two reasons why a businessman such as your self
should care about the environment: 1)
You LIVE here (you idiot), and so do
your children and grandchildren and all those other people that you care about,
and 2) Climate change and extreme weather are EXPENSIVE and you hate to let go of your money.
Not to overstate the obvious, but we've only got the one
planet and we should keep it healthy because it's where we live. Humans cannot live without water, air, and
soil, so we must protect those valuable natural resources and keep them clean
in order to keep ourselves alive and well.
Any portion of the environment that humans enter becomes transformed,
changed, or polluted (in the literal sense of the word.) It is no longer pristine. And guess what…humans now cover the entire planet! Not all changes wrought by humans are
dangerous, obviously, but some are and have far-reaching, long-term
consequences. PCBs for example, once
released become persistent in nature and can get it into our food chain very
easily. It is estimated that 1.3 million
pounds of PCBs were dumped into the Hudson River by General Electric from
1946-1977 when they were banned. Here
are just some of the dangers caused
by PCBs to humans:
Melanoma, liver cancer, gall
bladder cancer, biliary tract cancer, GI tract cancer, brain cancer, breast
cancer. Pregnant women exposed to PCBs
give birth to babies with low birth weight, small head size, low IQ, psychomotor
and behavioral problems. PCBs disrupt
hormone function leading to short menstrual cycles for women, reduced sperm
counts for men, altered sex organs, premature puberty and diminished immune
systems making the person exposed more susceptible to disease.
Doesn't this list just make you sick? When we poison our planet we poison
ourselves. As my grandfather used to
say, "Don't s**t where you eat."
Duh.
And now for the pocket book issue – global warming and
extreme weather are expensive. Did you
know that Hurricane Katrina cost the Federal government about $108 billion
(that's according to FEMA who wrote most of the checks). It was the costliest hurricane in US
history. FEMA aid for Hurricane Sandy is
around $16.9 billion PLUS the National Flood Insurance Program (a federal
program) has paid $4 billion in claims to it's policy holders. These numbers don't even account for the cost
of preventative measures being implemented all over the coasts. Disaster relief is expensive, and we simply
can't afford it. Remember that nice
budget you proposed a few weeks ago…well I didn't see a big
line item for disaster relief. What are
you going to do when the next Katrina or Sandy hits? You won't be able to blame it on the media.
Your stupid, short-sighted environmental policies (or lack of policies I should say) are going
to hurt EVERYONE. Like seriously, EVERYONE. Not just the people in our country, but
people all over the world and for many, many years to come. It's a small world, after all. We need to take care of it so it can take care of us.
Sincerely,
Amy Beaton
P.S. Better kiss Mar-a-Lago goodbye because that sea level
is rising pretty quickly.
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