FRANK LINGO

Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is trying to rescind its authority over pollutants that cause global warming. According to a July 31 article in The Guardian, the “endangerment finding,” which was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009, found that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health, which supported a ruling the court made two years earlier that such gases were pollutants covered under the federal Clean Air Act.

But now the current EPA wants to trash that legal landmark and allow pollutants to flow freely from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources. This travesty would set environmental protection back more than half a century.

Once the proposal is published in the Federal Register (federalregister.gov), it will have a public comment period, and then face an array of legal challenges. It comes at a time when virtually all legitimate climate scientists (not counting those working for Big Oil) say we are facing catastrophic consequences from climate chaos.

Ain’t no converting the unconvertibles. Denial’s the response from Republicans with fossil fool infatuation. They treat everything and everyone like throwaway trash. They motor in their big internal combusties and wouldn’t stoop to running around with svelte electrics. Their phallic smokestacks screw the sky instead of the snowflakes’ twirling turbines tickling it.

Will the courts correct course and put us on the path to righteous renewables? Don’t bet the farm. When such cases go to the Supremes, expect the Extremes instead.

Extreme corruption favoring corporations. Extreme tone-deafness to the will of the majority. Extreme denial of the damage to our withering world. Extreme pandering to the most despicable prick ever picked for president.

Besides the terracide waged by the anti-scientific types, there are so many hateful horrible acts that Humpty-Dump has done and continues to do. Every day is a tornado of torture for innocent victims of his vengeance. He’s got the fearsome forces of the federal government at his fingertips and no one has ever used it more cruelly.

Still, I’m heartened by an outpouring passion from the people. In all 50 states, protesters rally and make good trouble by declaring No Kings. They resist bravely against the Gestapo tactics of ICE, and they’ve had some successes. Perhaps our collective consciousness can overcome the forces of fascism and free us from tyranny. I’m not being flip. I’m truly hoping and hyping for it. And it has happened before.

It’s happened in South Africa. It’s happened in Berlin. It’s happened in Georgia and it’s happened in Ireland and India. People have risen up and risked life and limb with grit and gumption for the greater good. And the will of the masses has prevailed.

We can comfort and encourage each other in this quest. Let’s preserve our republic even if others won’t. We know how much it matters. We outnumber the bad guys - by a lot. We also have the truth on our side. And friends, truth and action are enough.

Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.”

Email: lingofrank@gmail.com.

See his website: Greenbeat.world