Planet's Fucked: What Can You Do To Help? (Long Post)
Since nobody is talking about the existential threat to the climate and the environment a second Trump term/Republican government control will cause, which to me supersedes literally every other issue, I wanted to just say my two cents, and some things you can do to help. I am a conservation biologist, whose field was hit substantially by the first Trump presidency. I study wild bees, birds, and plants.
In case anyone forgot what he did last time, he gagged scientists' ability to talk about climate change, he tried zeroing budgets for agencies like the NOAA, he attempted to gut protections in the Endangered Species Act (mainly by redefining 'take' in a way that would allow corporations to destroy habitat of imperiled species with no ramifications), he tried to do the same for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the law that offers official protection for native non-game birds), he sought to expand oil and coal extraction from federal protected lands, he shrunk the size of multiple national preserves, HE PULLED US OUT OF THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT, and more.
We are at a crucial tipping point in being able to slow the pace of climate change, where we decide what emissions scenario we will operate at, with existential consequences for both the environment and people. We are also in the middle of the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the rate of species extinctions far surpassing background rates due completely to human actions. What we do now will determine the fate of the environment for hundreds or thousands of years - from our ability to grow key food crops (goodbye corn belt! I hated you anyway but), to the pressure on coastal communities that will face the brunt of sea level rise and intensifying extreme weather events, to desertification, ocean acidification, wildfires, melting permafrost (yay, outbreaks of deadly frozen viruses!), and a breaking down of ecosystems and ecosystem services due to continued habitat loss and species declines, especially insect declines. The fact that the environment is clearly a low priority issue despite the very real existential threat to so many people, is beyond my ability to understand. I do partly blame the public education system for offering no mandatory environmental science curriculum or any at all in most places. What it means is that it will take the support of everyone who does care to make any amount of difference in this steeply uphill battle.
There are not enough environmental scientists to solve these issues, not if public support is not on our side and the majority of the general public is either uninformed or actively hostile towards climate science (or any conservation science).
So what can you, my fellow Americans, do to help mitigate and minimize the inevitable damage that lay ahead?
FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT THIS
A 2nd trump presidency will basically be one of the last nails in our coffins, as the US, one of the biggest polluters, is going to be no longer have no qualms over fucking over the entire planet.
I get people's immediate priority isn't this, so they aren't talking about it, it's their rights and livelyhoods, it is totally understandable.
But talking to one of my professors today really showed me that the scientific community really is panicking and the planet is on its knees.
HOWEVER,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, we cannot lose hope, bc climate doomrism is as bad as climate denial
Take this time, while these issues are fresh on our minds, to educate yourself. Get involved. Share news with others. Call out misinformation. Do everything you can, while we still can.
I really wasn't expecting this to get so many notes, thank you to everyone who cares about this issue.
A few more things to add!
the Monterey Bay Aquarium! (I don't know enough about marine topics to offer much here, sorry! but restoring eelgrass beds and bivalve communities is a big topic)
THE WILD SEED PROJECT, dear lord HOW could I forget you my beloved??? not just a nursery but an incredible resource for native landscaping in the northeast
Prairie Moon Nursery
Pinelands Direct Nursery
Ernst Conservation Seed
Landscape Interactions
Join a seed saving club, a facebook birdwatching club, a native plant society, any sort of local or university club that gets you closer to nature and around other passionate people
Possibly the biggest thing I forgot on this... GET THE WORD OUT! Educate yourself but then pass it on. Talk to your neighbors. Get out into your community and change some minds. Put signs up in your yard (you can get your yard certified and get signs through Xerces, National Wildlife Federation, and Monarch Watch, to name a few).
keep your cat indoors i s2g
SOME PRINT BOOKS! BOOKS ARE YOUR FRIEND
Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy (the holy book for us conservationists; also see his other books, Nature's Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks)
Planting Native to Attract Birds To Your Yard by Sharon Sorenson
A Northern Gardener's Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla
anything by BERND HEINRICH
anything by THOR HANSON
anything by HEATHER HOLM
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (she teaches at my university!)
A New Garden Ethic by Benjamin Vogt
And so many more.
With Republicans in control of our country again, this is more important than ever. The US is one of the most major polluters of our planet, and a second trump presidency promises to roll back regulations and cancel climate initiatives and government funding. If we as a species wish to survive and continue to live lives worth living, we have to save the environment, the world which we have grown up in, the place where we all live and will live,most likely for the rest of our natural lives. Let's try and preserve it so our kin and kith may enjoy it evermore.














