{"id":37000,"date":"2024-11-18T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T05:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=37000"},"modified":"2024-11-18T13:36:48","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:36:48","slug":"amid-the-health-biodiversity-and-climate-crises-nominee-to-epa-head-walks-in-lockstep-with-trump-denialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/11\/amid-the-health-biodiversity-and-climate-crises-nominee-to-epa-head-walks-in-lockstep-with-trump-denialism\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid the Health, Biodiversity, and Climate Crises, Nominee to EPA Head Walks in Lockstep with Trump Denialism"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, November 18, 2024)\u00a0With the reported appointment of former U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) to the position of Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Senate confirmation hearings will be an important process that is intended to shine a light on individual nominations, the policies of an administration, and the science (or lack thereof) behind them. There have been reports in the media that the Trump administration may attempt to circumvent the \u201cadvice and consent<\/a>\u201d rule of the U.S. Senate by making recess appointments<\/a>. Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers: No. 76<\/a><\/em> that Senate confirmation hearings act as a safeguard against the appointment of \u201cunfit\u201d officials.<\/p>\r\n

Numerous interviews and critiques are painting a picture of what the future holds for environmental protection and all that means for addressing the serious catastrophic threats of ongoing and escalating health, biodiversity, and climate crises. \u201cMr. Trump, who has called climate change a \u201choax,\u201d has targeted \u201cevery one\u201d of Mr. Biden\u2019s policies designed to transition the United States away from fossil fuels,\u201d according to The New York Times<\/a><\/em> reporting on June 26, 2024. The Guardian<\/a><\/em> reported on October 1 after Hurricane Helene, \u201cAs the hurricane<\/a> continued to ravage the region over the weekend, the former president dismissed global warming in a\u00a0Saturday<\/a>\u00a0speech, and the following day\u00a0referred<\/a>\u00a0to the climate crisis as \u201cone of the great scams of all time.\u201d \u201cMore than 230 people have been killed from Hurricane Helene, which unleashed devastation across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee,\u201d ABC News reported on October 7. The intensity and severity of hurricanes are directly related to climate change, according to Center for Climate and Energy Solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

French researcher and professor Barbara Demeneix, PhD points out in her article, \u201cHow fossil fuel-derived pesticides and plastics harm health, biodiversity, and the climate<\/a>,\u201d in The Lancet<\/em>, that, \u201d[Rachel] Carson [now over 60 years ago] showed that the decline in bird and fish populations was due to the pesticide DDT\u2014 30 years before research showed that DDT acted through endocrine mechanisms. Oil is used to make chlorobenzene, which in turn is used to synthesize DDT. Similarly, many pesticides such as neonicotinoids, pyrethroids, and glyphosate are produced from gas and oil.\u201d Plastics, PFAS, and more, are a part of this list. Tracey Woodruff, PhD (professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and the director of the\u00a0Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment<\/a> and the EaRTH Center<\/a>), School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, earlier this year wrote the article\u202f”Health Effects of Fossil Fuel\u2013Derived Endocrine Disruptors<\/a>\u201d<\/em> in The New England Journal of Medicine,<\/em> highlighting the urgent need to address the widespread chemical pollution stemming from the petrochemical industry and underscoring the dire implications for public health. In addition to the effects on climate, Dr. Woodruff points out that, \u201cMany of these fossil-fuel-based chemicals are endocrine disruptors, meaning they interfere with hormonal systems, and they are part of the disturbing rise in disease.\u201d\u202f\u00a0(See Daily News<\/a><\/em>.) [Shortly, Beyond Pesticides will be posting Dr. Woodruff\u2019s keynote to Beyond Pesticides\u2019 National Forum, Imperatives for a Sustainable Future\u2014Reversing the existential crises of pesticide-induced illness, biodiversity collapse, and the climate emergency<\/a>, <\/strong><\/em>on November 14.]<\/p>\r\n

It is expected that the Trump administration will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement<\/a>, which is considered \u201cthe most important UN [United Nations] process to tackle climate change,\u201d according to the BBC.\u00a0The BBC reports<\/a> that, \u201cThe agreement saw almost all the world’s nations\u2014for the first time\u2014agree to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Beyond the climate crisis<\/a>, as the Trump administration is preparing to take office, the nation and world face existential crises that require urgent action. Human actions are contributing to an ongoing Holocene or\u00a0sixth mass extinction<\/a>, as well as crises in\u00a0human disease<\/a>. Humans and the biosphere will suffer if President-elect Trump’s new EPA Administrator follows a course destructive of EPA’s mission. Although some have called the environmental record of Mr. Trump’s nominee Lee Zeldin \u201cmixed<\/a>,\u201d citing his past acknowledgment that climate change is real and support for regulating PFAS, he has\u00a0shown his loyalty<\/a>\u00a0by supporting the former president through his first impeachment trial and challenges to the 2020 election results. \u00a0<\/p>\r\n

>> Tell your U.S. Senators, under their responsibility to provide \u201cadvice and consent\u201d for presidential appointments, to fully vet Lee Zeldin\u2014for the position of EPA Administrator\u2014on his understanding of the current existential environmental crises and the mission of EPA.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

According to\u00a0Mother Jones<\/em><\/a>\u00a0magazine, \u201cBy tapping former\u202fNew York Rep. Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency, President-elect Donald Trump opted to put his planned radical rollback of climate policy in the hands of a staunch ally who is skilled at projecting an image of a moderate conservationist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Climate change is a real crisis and requires serious action. It is one of multiple crises that are compounding one another. Continued reliance on petrochemical pesticides and fertilizers is a major contributor to the release of greenhouse gases and the failure to reverse the threat through atmospheric carbon sequestration in healthy soils. While climate change may be most apparent\u2014128 degrees\u00a0F in\u00a0Death Valley<\/a>,\u00a0heat waves in India<\/a>,\u00a0the U.S.<\/a>, and\u00a0globally<\/a>, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, another wildfire season, etc.\u2014there are also crises in\u00a0human disease<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0biodiversity collapse<\/a>. Heat makes the\u00a0health effects of pesticides<\/a>\u00a0more serious. Climate change is\u00a0intensifying<\/a>\u00a0the impacts of habitat destruction and toxic chemicals on biodiversity. The urgency to act is made more apparent every day.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Zeldin have made clear that the mission of the new EPA Administrator is to enact \u201cderegulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses.\u201d Of course, businesses and the environment can coexist if industry adapts to the need for practices and products that are compatible with a healthy environment.<\/p>\r\n

The\u00a0stated mission<\/a>\u00a0of EPA is \u201cto protect human health and the environment,\u201d ensuring that:<\/p>\r\n