As we come to the end of 2016, we have great concerns about the incoming Trump administration’s plans related to forests, rivers, and community-based resilience.
In the first 100 days, President-elect Trump has promised to expand domestic fossil fuel production, move the Keystone Pipeline forward, cancel payments to the U.N climate change program, withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, weaken the Clean Power Plan, and eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. Much of the nation’s climate change research is federally funded and will be at extreme risk, and we have concerns that this administration will greatly increase logging on public lands.
This is our commitment to a safe climate.
Community Climate Change Resilience
We will redouble our efforts to help communities understand and prepare for the ill effects of climate change. We cannot wait on leadership from Washington D.C. While a lack of federal support means that building local climate change resilience will occur more haphazardly across the country, there is increasing demand for this work at the state and municipal levels and that is where progress will be made.
Forests
We will continue building the scientific case and public support for protecting and sustainably managing our forests. Anticipating that there will be increased logging on public forests, we will be vigilant in telling the evidence-based story of how this harms fish, wildlife, and clean water while also designing long-term protections for critical ecosystems that we can move forward when the political climate again changes.
Rivers
We will continue to restore the health of Oregon rivers by developing restoration projects with towns, land managers, and restoration practitioners. Expecting that federal and state regulatory agencies will be hobbled by severe budget cuts and antagonistic political appointees, we will continue to build on our long track record of watershed restoration success to ensure that towns and fish in Oregon have the clean water they need.
We will work with allies to protect the EPA, Paris Climate Accord, and other bedrock legislation and agreements on climate change.
What you can do to help
As we learn more about what we are facing in 2017, we ask you to make a commitment to a safe climate, vibrant forests, and clean flowing rivers – and to back up that commitment with action.
Spend an afternoon or Saturday morning thinking about the world you WANT and then support the groups that are working effectively to create that world. Make contributions, volunteer, sign up to take action, and step into leadership positions where you are needed.
At the Geos Institute we work hard to make natural and human communities whole in the face of climate change. Please join us in 2017.
www.GeosInstitute.org
