3 ms·

I'm sorry but there's no way a well-off geek is going to off-set what Trump's EPA is capable of doing. The proposed interim chief is a global warming denier wit

I'm sorry but there's no way a well-off geek is going to off-set what Trump's EPA is capable of doing. The proposed interim chief is a global warming denier with dreams of privatizing our national and state parks for development and has issues with the Endangered Species Act and other "big government" regulations. This reminds of previous elections when the GOP candidate would talk about gutting social programs and protections and that private donors and churches and such will take up the slack. Its fairly unrealistic for even large amounts of private wealth to make up for federal cuts. The EPA and DOI collectively have a near $30bn budget. If Bill Gates liquidized all his wealth and donated it, it wouldn't even pay for three years of their budget. Practical plans to keep animals from going extinct require non-stop work, sometimes for decades. I doubt we'd have bald eagles today if Reagan tried to privatize these agencies, gave away their lands, or removed their regulatory powers.

komali2 10y ago
In the worst case, the citizens can simply deny attempts to, for example, develop on a national park by sitting on the park. See: the pipeline protests from the last 2 months. Yes, it shouldn't come to that. Yes, that means abandoning jobs, income, etc and hanging out in a field for god knows how long. But, well, things aren't hopeless. I made myself depressed writing that comment.
- Jtsummers 10y ago
  We presently have government leadership that's more amenable to such protests. I'd expect stronger crackdowns against protesters under Trump's administration (on Federal lands, states will still do mostly what they already do).
  - ethbro 10y ago
    You can only get thrown in jail so many times. Donate to your favorite socially progressive group: bail funds go a long way towards enabling people who can to do.
    - GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
      Often times you can only get shot once.
- odbol_ 10y ago
  Right, because that's working out so well for them.
- artmageddon 10y ago
  > Yes, it shouldn't come to that. This bears repeating.

komali2 10y ago

In the worst case, the citizens can simply deny attempts to, for example, develop on a national park by sitting on the park. See: the pipeline protests from the last 2 months. Yes, it shouldn't come to that. Yes, that means abandoning jobs, income, etc and hanging out in a field for god knows how long. But, well, things aren't hopeless. I made myself depressed writing that comment.

Jtsummers 10y ago
We presently have government leadership that's more amenable to such protests. I'd expect stronger crackdowns against protesters under Trump's administration (on Federal lands, states will still do mostly what they already do).
- ethbro 10y ago
  You can only get thrown in jail so many times. Donate to your favorite socially progressive group: bail funds go a long way towards enabling people who can to do.
  - GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
    Often times you can only get shot once.
odbol_ 10y ago
Right, because that's working out so well for them.
artmageddon 10y ago
> Yes, it shouldn't come to that. This bears repeating.