Topics: Climate Change, News, Politics
July 22, 2024 was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, according to data collected from NASA — which wasn’t exactly surprising, as Earth in general had its hottest summer ever. Unfortunately, these rising temperatures don’t seem to be anomalies. Instead, climate change has led to all kinds of scary weather headlines: massive floods, dangerous heat waves, shock snowstorms, powerful hurricanes, and sudden tornadoes have also had devastating effects all over the globe this year, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their paths.
But any forward momentum the world is making on combating climate change could come to a sudden halt — and even a dramatic reversal — if Project 2025, a disturbing political initiative by a conservative think tank, is enacted.
Here’s why the potential enactment of Project 2025 has so many people worried about the United States’ ability to not just prevent climate change, but even help people suffering from its effects.
Project 2025 is a (900-page!) document created by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, which essentially lists dream policy measures for the next president of the United States.
Project 2025 takes aim at abortion rights, the LGBTQ+ community, public education, federal agencies, and climate change measures, among other alarming goals that could see many Americans losing their rights and the world becoming a more dangerous place, especially where the environment is concerned.
Project 2025 wants to drastically alter, downsize, or cut back funding for several government agencies and programs that deal with weather and climate change, including:
Making these kinds of alterations to these programs would have negative effects on their ability to collect the data we need to understand and combat climate change — and it would also affect the government’s ability to help people impacted by the terrifying effects of climate change.
Oh, and that’s not all Project 2025 would do. It also aims to replace hundreds of longstanding federal employees with political appointees, who would lack the institutional knowledge needed to run these departments — and potentially come in with damaging or biased agendas.
Plus, it wants to remove measures for fossil fuels that were originally put in place to protect the environment and reduce carbon emissions, like getting rid of federal restrictions on fossil fuel drilling on public lands, for example. Removing these fossil fuel protections may accelerate the effects of climate change, a scary thought considering the horrifying weather disasters people have seen in recent years.
It’s not just scary for Americans, though. Project 2025 also suggests measures that would hinder the entire world’s ability to slow down or reverse climate change, including:
The United States is one of the largest and most powerful countries (and one of the top three countries emitting greenhouse gasses!). If it isn’t involved in these global conversations or participating at all in climate change policies to reduce its emissions, the world at large likely won’t be able to effectively reduce climate change effects. Yep, Project 2025’s reach could be that widespread and damaging.
If we want to keep the planet safe and healthy for future generations, we can’t go backward with Project 2025 proposals; we must actively fight the threat of rising global temperatures. Let’s hope Project 2025 is a possibility that doesn’t come to fruition.
