Four Days Decimating Four Decades? What’s at Stake for Our Country and Planet

By Alliance President Terry Gips

How does one respond when people, the planet and four decades of work are being threatened in only four days by an overwhelming, out-of-control onslaught of incendiary actions?

The Alliance and many others are trying to answer that. Normally, one should choose to run for cover or fight the fire and call 911. In this case, there’s nowhere to run because the Inferno has spread everywhere so fast. One could seek temporary relief in a body of water, hiding one’s head in the sand or meditation, prayer or just turning inward with friends, family and things one loves.

The second path is to fight the Inferno, although that’s tough with a garden hose. Many garden hoses could amount to something if the pressure holds.

Yes, we can call 911 but it’s impossible to get through because they’re besieged with calls and soon those call centers will be gone due to funding cuts or the government’s decision to stop giving out information, as we’ve already seen at the Center for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration and National Institute of Health. I imagine the Environmental Protection Agency will be next.

Of course, if all else fails, there are always attorneys willing to fight the good fight, which may be one of our most powerful tools given that so many of the actions have questionable legal status.

Maybe I wouldn’t care so much if these flames wouldn’t directly harm so many people, animals and ecosystems. But it’s the pain felt by innocent children and vulnerable groups that hurts the most.

What this Means for Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness

The Alliance for Sustainability has worked tirelessly for 41 years to fulfill its mission of co-creating sustainability on a personal, organizational and planetary level. We’ve had numerous major successes in various arenas, from education and engagement to business and public policy.

However, we were so disturbed by the murder of George Floyd in our midst, as well as the threats from the  climate crisis and anti-democracy movement, we felt we had to scale our efforts to bring about fundamental systems change through personal and organizational transformation, as well as impactful policy.

We developed our Campaign for Sustainability, Health, Equity Kindness (aka, S.H.E. Kindness) with four programs: Akepa Youth & School, Business, Policy and Outreach & Communication for Impact. We feel each program has been making important progress in achieving sustainability, health, equity and kindness…until now. Let’s take a look at each to see a few selected examples of what has happened in only four days that is threatening each:

1. Sustainability – The President has pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement and foregoing US global climate leadership, sending a signal to other countries to keep on burning fossil fuels.

   He signed an order saying there’s a national energy emergency, despite the fact the US is now producing record levels of oil and gas, more than any country in history. We’ve already surpassed the 1.5 C degree tipping point and know that we have to stop the escalating use of fossil fuels or face disaster.

   However, he’s proclaiming “Drill, Baby Drill” while proudly seeking to reverse the Congressionally-passed and funded historic level of investments in job-creating renewable energy, EV subsidies and rebates for energy-conserving products.

2. Health – The President has rescinded directives by his predecessor to lower drug costs and expand coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid, according to NPR.

   He has withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization, making the US far more vulnerable to pandemics.

3. Equity – The President’s Justice Department has ordered an immediate halt to all new civil rights cases or investigations and signaled it might back out of previous agreements with police departments that engaged in discrimination or violence, according to the NY Times.

   The President signed an Executive Order ending Birthright Citizenship, which a Reagan-appointed judge has fortunately just blocked, labeling it as “blatantly unconstitutional.”

   The President has blocked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government, ordering officials overseeing them to be placed on leave before their offices are shut down at the end of the month.

4. Kindness – Calling them “hostages”, the President has given a full pardon to approximately 1,500 January 6 rioters who stormed the US Capitol and violently attacked police and commuted the sentences of 14 leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers convicted or charged with seditious conspiracy, as CNN points out.

   With the pardons, Trump has granted full clemency to hundreds of people already convicted of felony crimes like assaulting police and destroying property as part of the effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. They include individuals like Julian Khater, who assaulted US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick and later pled guilty to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon; Devlyn Thompson, who hit a police officer with a metal baton; and Robert Palmer, a Florida man who attacked police with a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank and a pole.

These are all dangerous actions that threaten our future. What thoughts do you have about how we can address them? Let us know and we’ll be sharing them.