The title may sound like the first line of a joke, but this is about the environment.
Environmental Destruction is No Joke
The following brief dissertation is not a joke, but there is a joker in the narrative. See if you can spot him.
Theodore Roosevelt: President of the United States 1901-1909
“Teddy” was an avid outdoorsman, as well as an author, explorer, naturalist, conservationist and soldier. Having lead the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war, he returned home as a war hero. He was elected governor of the state of New York and then as William McKinley’s vice president. Subsequent to McKinley’s assassination, Roosevelt became the 25th president. Upon entering the Oval Office, he went straight to work on the environment. In addition to setting aside 230 million acres of public land as a sanctuary from the forces of modernity, he created the United States Forest Service, and established:
- 150 national forests
- 51 federal bird reserves
- 4 national game preserves
- 5 national parks
Theodore Roosevelt, at the age of 42, was the youngest person to become US president.
Richard Nixon: President of the United States 1969-1974
Nixon, who started out practicing law, saw active duty in the US Navy Reserve during World War II, and became a career politician. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. From 1952 to 1960 he served as Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president. In 1968 he was elected the 37th US president. In 1970 he created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) whose purpose, among several others, was to enforce air-pollution laws. The law’s intention was to reduce the emission of six common pollutants:
- Particles
- Ozone
- Lead
- Carbon monoxide
- Nitrogen dioxide
- Sulfur dioxide
Richard Nixon was the only US president who left office by resignation.
Donald Trump: President of the United States 2017 – 20??
Before he became a presidential aspirant, the real-estate developer and reality television personality, Donald Trump, tweeted (2012), “The concept of global warming was created by, and for, the Chinese, in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.” Since entering the Oval Office, in one year’s time he presided over events covered in the following headlines:
- Order Aims to Expand Offshore Drilling (April)
- Interior Department Scrubs Climate Change Website (April)
- Trump Budget Proposes Steep Cuts for Environment (May)
- US Pulls Out of Paris Climate Agreement (June)
- Mining Health Study Halted; Climate Advisory Panel Disbanded (August)
- Trump EPA Poised to Scrap Clean Power Plan (October)
- Interior Department Proposes Largest-Ever Oil and Gas Lease Auction (October)
- Trump Unveils Plan to Dramatically Downsize Two National Monuments (December)
- Trump Drops Climate Change from List of National Security Threats (December)
Donald Trump, at the age of 70, was the oldest person to become US president.
And the Joker IS?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
By his own admission, Donald Trump is a joker. Trump told Fox & Friends:
“Well, I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change. I’d be — received environmental awards. And I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China. Obviously, I joke. But this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn’t care less. They have very — you know, their standards are nothing. But they — in the meantime, they can undercut us on price. So it’s very hard on our business.”
Politico.com is the source for the above Fox & Friends transcript from an interview on 1/18/2017.
(Scroll to bottom of blog space for other credits)
But first… AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:
