We don’t need AI to threaten the future of humanity.
asserted
AI → need → humanity
We’ve got Trump’s climate policies
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- Trump has gutted environmental protections and scientific research, and dismantled clean energy initiatives.
- Activists of all ages are organizing events to promote sustainability, biodiversity and other environmental causes.
asserted
Activists → get → sustainability
You need a boost, right?
asserted
You → need → boost
We’re living under a dark cloud, with a steady downpour of graft, thuggery and baloney.
asserted
We → live → graft
There’s the raffling of presidential pardons and the attacks on reporters for doing their jobs, the clownish trade war with Canada, the bungled disaster in Iran, the petty obsessions with the ballroom and the Kennedy Center, the hogwash about a stolen election, the attacks on immigrants and the shameless presidential profiteering while working people suffer the cost of Trump’s countless broken promises.
asserted
people → ’ → promises
I could go on, and I will.
uncertain
I → go → ?
But rest assured, I have not forgotten about the boost I promised.
asserted
I → rest → boost
For all the affronts, nothing strikes me as more sinister than the Trump administration’s ambitious assault on the planet.
asserted
nothing → strike → planet
Despite nearly daily headlines about the global calamity of overheated oceans, melting glaciers, stark weather transformations and species extinction, Trump keeps shoveling more coal onto a fire that will rage long after he’s dead and gone.
asserted
he → melt → fire
He’s gutted environmental protections and scientific research and dismantled clean energy initiatives.
asserted
He → gutte → initiatives
Now his administration is rolling back limits on power plant emissions, attempting to open the California coast to more oil drilling and sabotaging the state’s ambitious goals on emission controls and electric vehicle conversion.
asserted
administration → roll → controls
We don’t need AI to threaten the future of humanity.
asserted
AI → need → humanity
We’ve got Trump.
asserted
We → get → Trump
It’s tempting to duck under the covers and wait for the nightmare to end, but the good news is that a lot of people are standing up rather than rolling over, rebelling against the ignorance and callous disregard that threatens our most precious and fragile shared inheritance.
asserted
that → ’ → inheritance
In August, hundreds showed up to defend California’s authority to govern its own coast at a Santa Monica hearing of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency, and 18,000 more people filed comments online.
asserted
people → show → comments
‘It is not the job of the people of California to compensate for Trump’s financial losses,’ writes an L.A. Times reader.
asserted
reader → compensate → losses
But I am not despairing,” said Bill McKibben, an author and environmental activist who is organizing a worldwide event called Sun Day for next year to promote clean energy.
asserted
who → despair → energy
“We’re reacting to multiple crises, and we’re led by a pack of fools, so why would anybody not stand up?”
McKibben launched a national movement five years ago called Third Act, and tens of thousands of people 60 and older have signed on to advocate for climate action, voting rights and civic participation.
asserted
thousands → react → action
Third Act now operates in about 30 states, with a robust chapter in Southern California.
asserted
Act → operate → California
Former Times reporter Zan Dubin has worked as both a volunteer and a paid communications consultant for Third Act, and I asked her what someone could expect to do if they became a member of Third Act/SoCal.
uncertain
they → work → SoCal
“We do it all,” Dubin said, from promoting climate-friendly candidates to running phone banks and testifying at public meetings.
asserted
Dubin → do → meetings
She said Third Act co-sponsors protests at Dodger Stadium, and she and others planned to meet at Vin Scully Avenue and Stadium Way for Sunday’s game against the San Francisco Giants.
asserted
she → say → Giants
They want the Dodgers to stop doing business with Big Oil and bench their sponsorship deal with Phillips 66.
asserted
Dodgers → want → 66
She also called out Disneyland for its exhaust-spewing Autopia attraction, along with former Times climate columnist Sammy Roth, and Disneyland responded by announcing in 2024 that it was switching to electric cars beginning in 2027.
asserted
it → call → 2027
Dubin, co-founder of National Drive Electric Week, said 170 volunteer-led events were being held nationwide over the next month to promote EVs, and she was leading one Friday in Irvine.
asserted
she → say → Irvine
“Action is absolutely the antidote to despair,” Dubin said.
asserted
Dubin → say → despair
“I find that despite the onslaught of these horrifying headlines … taking action invigorates me.”
asserted
taking → find → me
Claremont resident Margaret Davis knows that feeling.
asserted
Davis → know → feeling
She emailed me in 2023, prior to participating in a Third Act event, and said many retirees have time on their hands, which puts them in a powerful position.
asserted
which → email → position
“The climate crisis is the greatest existential threat humans have ever faced, hence we live in a time when we can make the greatest change for the better,” Davis wrote at the time.
asserted
Davis → face → time
When I called her a few days ago, Davis told me she’s now a member of Senior Stewards Acting for the Environment.
asserted
she → call → Environment
She lives at Pilgrim Place — a senior community with a focus on justice, peace and environment — where residents meet regularly to study, discuss and advocate for sustainability, biodiversity and environmental causes.
asserted
residents → live → sustainability
“When I was in college in 1970, we had the antiwar movement and that was the first year of Earth Day,” Davis said.
asserted
Davis → have → Day
“At the time, I thought Earth Day was just a distraction from what was going on in the world.”
asserted
what → think → world
Later, she said, “I came to realize it was the biggest issue of all time.”
asserted
it → say → time
Like Davis, I went to college in the ‘70s, and there’s no denying that our aggressively consumptive generation played a key role in manufacturing a crisis for our children and grandchildren.
asserted
generation → go → children
We’ve got matches in our hands and smoke on the horizon, and if we’re honest with ourselves, we’d see atonement not as a hobby, but as a duty.
asserted
we → get → duty
As for the next generation, climate activist Sim Bilal, 24, said he too shares the sense that this is both a wickedly frightening time and a moment of opportunity.
asserted
this → say → opportunity
“In the last month, we’ve gotten more young people involved,” said Bilal, executive director of Youth Climate Stewards 4 Local Action.
asserted
Bilal → get → Stewards
“We usually have to reach out to them, but so many people have been wanting to get involved, and they’re so eager, and that’s been affirming for me.
asserted
that → have → me
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
