Over the past four and a half decades, presidents from both parties have furthered environmental protections designed to keep the American people safe and healthy. But President Trump and the Republican-led Congress, are poised to wipe out these essential safeguards. America is now facing the worst assault against our environment and health in our history. President Trump has pledged to cripple the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making it even harder to protect our natural resources, and as a result, the well-being of all Americans.
Clean drinking water? Gone. President Trump vowed to eliminate EPA's Clean Water Rule, a critical rule that keeps contaminants out of drinking water supplies for one in three U.S. residents.
Clean air? Gone, too. His plans to weaken smog standards and reject the Clean Power Plan will give us dangerously dirty air and higher risks of heart attacks, asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and deadly heart and lung diseases.
Climate progress? Derailed. President Trump has called climate change a hoax and has pledged to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Now, instead of taking a leading role in curbing climate change, the U.S. could fall behind some of the worst polluting nations.
There is not a single environmental standard, or regulation, or law, that is not going to be challenged by this new administration. If we care about the fate of our natural resources and all they support, if we care about American values, of equity and justice for all people, if we care about leaving our children a livable world, it's on all of us, as citizens, to stand up to this threat.
Plastic: the unwelcome house guest at nearly every corner of our lives — from shopping bags to footwear, coffee cups to car parts. And yet, discarded, plastic doesn't just evaporate into thin air. No, it lingers. For decades. Even centuries. According to statistics presented by Visual Capitalist , plastic daily consumer goods can break down between 20 and 600 years, depending on the composition used, how they were created, and natural elements like water and sunlight they are exposed to. Let's go deeper into why plastic takes so long to break down — and what horrid messes it leaves behind in the process. Why Plastic Isn't "Natural" — and Why That's a Problem Plastic does not naturally exist. It's a product made from petroleum and natural gas. Its long, tough carbon bonds differ from anything naturally found in ecosystems, making it extremely resistant to microbial breakdown. When we toss a plastic bottle or bag away, it's not a matter of if it will s...
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