This land is your land, this land is my land
I don’t agree with President elect Trump, but I do agree that America is on the cusp of greatness, if only we opened our eyes.
America is more economically fragmented, distraught and bought off by the corporate agenda — whether be that of the media, Wall Street, or a related cousin — than anytime in its history. Millions are disillusioned with government; millennials were all but ignored in this election; and the disparity between the rich and the poor continues to widen, only making the problem worse. We all want something better, yet we remain fragmented in our silos of stereotypes — and it’s this fragmentation that makes us vulnerable as a nation.
Trump is already taking full advantage of that fragmentation with his cabinet nominations all while touting “greatness” in the form of coal jobs (yay!), opening up vast serene natural landscapes for oil and gas drilling (can’t wait!) and leading one of the biggest national efforts of climate denial spin (sign me up!). Greatness, on the contrary, implies grand, thoughtful vision along the lines of Martin Luther King Jr.’s demand for racial equality, Teddy Roosevelt’s push for national parks, and NASA’s voyage to the moon. True greatness commands progress and forward momentum, a mentality that builds off of the innovations and lessons taking place today and tomorrow, not a half-century ago. Turning back the clock 60+ years to an era saturated in dirty energy, dirty jobs, lax (if any) environmental regulation and ignorance of the negative health impacts of chemicals like DDT, does not sound like a fun time to return to. It’s like deciding, as a senior in high school, to go back to 6th grade simply to relive those adolescent moments all over again. Now, why in your right mind would you want to do that?
Thankfully, not everyone is buying Trump’s rhetoric of greatness even those who you might assume would be first in line at the polls to cast their vote. For those who did vote for Trump under the promise that he would bring back jobs to a struggling rural America, that promise is blatantly and abruptly being shattered by the reality of a business-backed Administration — the very crony capitalism Trump campaigned against.
In a further ironic twist of fate, the market is speaking loudly against Trump’s archaic policy threats and indicates no strong interest in reopening unproductive or counterintuitive energy sources, particularly when many energy companies have been incentivized to move towards cleaner energy sources and are now building those models into financial forecasts. Smart businesses are projecting 10, 20 or 50 years in the future — not four. Furthermore, many CEOs realize that climate change is costly, therefore the incentive to act now is stronger than continuing to kick the denial can down the road.
In addition, wouldn’t it behoove Trump not to pay attention to the blue collar workers, his base, socioeconomically trapped in unhealthy, dirty fracking and coal jobs, and instead provide them a supported way out? Instead, he’s proposing they continue to work in the same hazardous conditions that increase cancer risk and pollute their local communities. Wind and solar are at a point where investments are outpacing fossil fuels by 2 to 1. If Trump is so fixated on national rejuvenation, then clean energy jobs should be a main part of his energy plan and he should be speaking with Elon Musk, not Scott Pruitt.
In order to become truly great as a nation, going forward, we need to focus on three things:
- A youth-fueled, engaged political force that represents the voice of tomorrow, not yesterday. Trump’s victory has inspired a rapid and palpable response from activist groups around the nation, as well as state and local level governments, including a coalition of businesses all focused on moving forward on environmental and social progress made to-date. This coalition will need to grow and strengthen as resistance is pushed away from the federal level.
- We have to deal with climate change. Period. Given the issue is so politicized, targeted messaging and storytelling efforts are needed urgently to depolarize the issue and embed mitigation efforts into everyday design and language in order to preempt defensiveness. For example, wouldn’t it be great if you could live in a world that was built using regenerative design processes as the standard? Or have a roof made of solar shingles as the norm? You wouldn’t have to think about your footprint and, from a psychological and behavioral standpoint, that’s a very good thing.
- We’ll need continual stakeholder engagement. The more each of us can reach across the aisle within our communities, families, friends and colleagues, the more normalized we become as neighbors. So get out there, join a group and meet some new people. Sure, you’re not going to love everybody, but we tend to have more in common than you think, and that commonality will be key in fighting Trump’s divisive-driven policies.
More than anything, we’ll each need to look in the mirror and ask how we can get involved. This isn’t a game you can stand by and watch — we need all hands on deck. It becomes apparent more and more each day that Trump doesn’t share the same definition of greatness as many of us do and is content to chart a backwards course to nowhere. Only until we, as Americans, find common ground and see past the barriers of entry will Trump’s looming reign be dismantled.
No matter what corner we turn come January 2017, these aren’t days when we can regress to days of fabricated folklore. It’s time to move forward, together, towards an enlightened era that’s truly great and built on inclusivity, smart design, clean energy and education. Let’s make our collective goal leaving the planet better and more regenerative than we found it.
As someone whose career centers around the nexus of environmental policy and climate communications, greatness is a phrase that rarely comes across my desk, and I’m used to disappointment. Remember how climate change received close to zero airtime during the presidential debates (a grand total of five minutes and twenty-seven seconds)? Welcome to my world. Depressing as that sounds, psychological resiliency is now something I’m cashing in on, particularly as we ramp up against a dynasty-prone narcissist who doesn’t appear to understand or acknowledge the American democratic process and is set on leading us into a full blown oligarchy.
So while Trump remains fixated on dismantling the EPA, putting billionaires into positions of political power within his cabinet, reversing the Clean Power Plan and pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, there’s a resistance building, one that is full of unification, activation and the promise of a better country. America doesn’t need to be made great again, it needs to be made great, period, and together we can.
About the Author
Tara Holmes is the founder of earth + urban. You can find her hiking, on her yoga mat, or belly laughing. Connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
