The future of our environment and resources looks nearly as dried up as the U.S.’s West Coast, at least at the rate we are pushing forward. The frequency we are exhausting resources and heating the atmosphere is, however, not going unnoticed. For years, nations have been working together and within themselves to reduce emissions, waste, and discover new, cleaner ways to use resources.

Despite decades of research, millions in funding, and frightening, scientifically proven results, global warming is claimed a hoax by our very own President-Elect. To quote Donald Trump himself, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”  Global warming, right now, is one of the most threatening things to the human race and the world. Yet, our newly elected government is going to work to hinder any progress and possibly cause severe consequences to our environment. That is why it is important that scientists, government officials, and regular people like you and I, work and contribute to lessen the effects of Trump as well as global warming.

I have found quite devastating facts that Trump has laid out, which exposes environment protecting agencies and agreements that he plans to rid of or limit, including other environmentally impacting actions:

• Limiting the EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) power by appointing a head of the agency who does not even believe in global warming.
  • The EPA was created to protect human and environmental health by writing and enforcing regulations, which included pollution prevention and energy conservation efforts.
• Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement
  • The PCA has been in the making for 20 years, it’s an agreement that proposes the starting point for nations to alleviate the effects of climate change. The 192 of 196 nations that are involved will work towards the goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2050.

• Undoing Obama’s work on the Clean Power Plan
  • The CPP is aimed to combat global warming by requiring states to reduce carbon pollutions emitted from power plants.

• Cancel billions in climate change spending and funding

• Promote fossil fuels, such as coal, shale and oil
  • Trump wants to tap into American shale, reviving the coal industry. Yet, coal is responsible for thousands of premature deaths per year. It is the worst fossil fuel, emitting air pollution and extremely high levels of carbon dioxide.
  • He also plans to put into motion the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, and other similar pipelines, which destroy ecosystems and our water. At the same time, he proposes to fix American water, which is completely contrary to what the pipelines would be doing.

If these facts have scared the shit out of you like they did me, don’t lose hope. We always have our voice, and we are able to still take action on our own end. We can still make a difference. Our voice alone travels far, we can educate those around us on the environment and the future of it, and, like in the past, we can voice out against the construction of pipelines and similar harmful productions that are catastrophic to the environment. And, as repetitive as it may sound, make a change at your personal level by recycling, reducing the use of resources and products, and reusing. We can always hold on to hope that, although the President is extremely powerful, hopefully not powerful enough to continue his ludicrous plans. But, in the meantime, we can continue to educate ourselves and contribute in our own way. The world looks good full of green and blue, let’s keep it that way.