'An Existential Threat' 

Editor:

Trump is an existential threat to life on earth (Mailbox, June 6). 

As I write today, on Summer Solstice, 2024, there is a severe heat wave in much of the U.S. A tropical storm has dropped 10 inches of rain on part of Texas, while much of California is baking, dry as a tinderbox and devastated by out-of-control wildfires. According to an analysis by climate scientists at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, 2023 was the hottest year on record. Along with this historic heat, Antarctic sea ice dropped to an historic low in 2023. 

Approximately 97 percent of climate scientists around the world agree that man-made climate change is real and primarily caused by the production and consumption of oil and other fossil fuels. 

In 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which was the most comprehensive climate legislation in U.S. history. It invests hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy, electric cars and environmental justice.

Since the beginning of his political career, Donald Trump has repeatedly refuted fossil fuel driven climate change as a hoax. During his 2017-2021 tenure as president, Trump eviscerated environmental protections and opened up national parks and Indigenous sacred lands to fossil fuel exploration and drilling. 

Now Trump is running again for president with a political agenda that will be much more devastating to our environment, and that will greatly accelerate climate change. 

According to a recently released report by the Sierra Club, Trump plans to implement "Project 2025" — a sweeping and draconian legislative proposal put forward by the conservative Heritage Foundation that will undo Biden's Inflation Reduction Act and re-invest in fossil fuels.

Before you vote in November of 2024, please think about the future of life on earth! 

Rob Hepburn, Arcata