CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Human activities and industrialization in particular have led to increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations that are unprecedented in records spanning hundreds of thousands of years. US Fifth National Climate Assessment, Nov. 14, 2023.

On December 7, 2009, the Obama administration accepted the endangerment finding that, finally, brought fossil fuels in the power of the rule of law. That is, the endangerment finding confirmed that burning fossil fuels harms human health: “The [EPA] Administrator finds that the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)—in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

The price of ignoring science

According to the Los Angeles Times: “The Trump administration has repealed the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, eliminating the foundation of much of U.S. climate policy. The decision reverses decades of environmental progress despite overwhelming scientific evidence and opposition from health experts, environmental groups, 50 cities and nearly two dozen states. Experts warn the repeal will increase pollution, respiratory disease and planet-warming emissions over the coming decades.”

President Barack Obama, in whose administration the endangerment finding became government policy in 2009, was angry for its elimination. He said: “Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”

There’s little doubt that behind anti-environmental protection actions / policies, there are people or companies making money. After all, modern people emerged in the midst of mining of the land and the seas, deforestation, chemical warfare, nuclear bombs, DDT and hazardous farming. And even the largest car companies, Ford and General Motors, ignore endangerment because their fleets of automobiles and trucks have been polluting America for about 200 years. Pollution and profits seem to be their primary products.

Environmental history

Τhe 2009 finding on endangerment did not come out of the blue. The 1970 Clean Air Act directed the US EPA to regulate air pollutants, but did not point directly to carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that are basically responsible for increasing the temperature of the planet, hence threatening life, human and wild, ecosystems and the order and harmony of nature. The result has been warmer temperatures and climate chaos.

By 1970, however, America was tainted by severe pollution: hazardous substances circulating in rivers, lakes, seas, rains, snow, ice – and in human drinking water and food. Americans were aware of the dangers of DDT, a biocide / insecticide devastating insects, pollinators like honeybees and myriad wildlife species, especially birds. In 1962, Rachel Carson, a government biologist, published Silent Spring, an eloquent book of science and warnings about toxic sprays farmers thoughtlessly dumped on the crops and fruits........

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