Picking the wrong messiah for Earth Day

“New polls out today are very good considering that much of the media is FAKE and almost always negative. Would still beat Hillary in popular vote. ABC News/Washington Post Poll (wrong big on election) said almost all stand by their vote on me & 53% said strong leader.” – Donald Trump tweet 4-23-17

I love how “our” President tweets about the election being over on the one hand, but continues to bring it up in other tweets. I can assure you he will talk about it a time or twelve at his “Ego Rally” this Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Here are a couple of the other questions the Poll asked with the answers “our” President neglected to tweet about;

Do you think Trump…..

…. has the kind of judgment it takes to serve effectively as president? 56% said no.

…. has the personality and temperament it takes to serve effectively as president? 59% said no.

…. is trustworthy and honest? 58% said no.

…. can be trusted in a crisis? 52% said no.

I guess it took him the entire day to decipher the rest of the poll hence this tweet early this morning;

“The two fake news polls released yesterday, ABC & NBC, while containing some very positive info, were totally wrong in General E. Watch!” – Donald Trump tweet 4-24-17

I got to give him credit though, his “Basket of Deplorables” are sticking with him. “Trump’s rating is 10 points higher among whites who lack a college degree than among those who have one…… he reaches 65 percent approval among non-college white men.” 53% of us think they picked the wrong messiah to hitch their wagon up too but by god they haven’t given up on him…..yet.

I spent Earth Day walking in the woods in the Pisgah National Forest. My wife and I did a hard six-mile hike up a ridge and back down along the Davidson River. As I trudged over rocks and roots, deep in the woods, miles away from any semblance of civilization and cell service I thought about John Muir’s words; “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” 

But when I got out of the forest and back to cell service this is what I read from our President; “I am committed to keeping our air and water clean but always remember that economic growth enhances environmental protection. Jobs matter!” Economic growth enhances environmental protection? I am not sure I understand his correlation between the two. The perception that I get from the Trump administration is a willingness to sacrifice environmental protection for the sake of economic growth and jobs. A willingness to cut funding for the advancement of science so that we can make more bombs and build walls.

Believe me, I get the short-term implications, the coal miner that voted for Trump doesn’t care about the melting polar ice cap. He cares about putting food on the table, and making a truck payment. His long-term view is simple, one maybe two lifetimes. Certainly no longer than his Presidents view. Why should we put the well-being of a polar bear over our own? Why should we be worried about 17,000 gallons of oil spilled in rural South Dakota or banning a pesticide that scientist have stated causes brain damage in children? “…economic growth enhances environmental protection. Jobs matter!”

Here is the thing, without environmental protection there will be no economic growth. Our existence is dependent on a happy, healthy Earth. It is not the other way around. This seems to be simple logic to me but when has logic and politics ever been uttered in the same breath?

“When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.” –  John Muir