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Opinion
The Extinction Order: Trump’s Executive Order 14270 Doesn’t Deregulate; It Dismantles
Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” But wildness cannot survive without protection, and protection is what this order destroys.
May 11, 2025
On April 9, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14270, blandly titled “Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy.” Behind that bureaucratic name is a sweeping directive: Dismantle a century of environmental protections.
Every regulation related to the environment, natural resources, or energy, whether it safeguards air, water, species, or public lands, must be rewritten to serve polluters or vanish by default.
Some will claim this is just about efficiency. But no standard review process sets a mass expiration date for protections, regardless of science, impact, or legal mandate. This is not streamlining. It is a countdown to erasure.
While courts deliberate, rules will expire. Enforcement will be suspended. Polluters will act as if the rules are already gone.
The deadline is September 30, 2026. Any rule not revised and reauthorized by then will expire automatically.
What will remain will not be protection. It will not be science. It will not be law. It will be a hollow shell, stripped of enforcement and public purpose.
This is not reform. It is demolition. It is sabotage by executive order.
They Said It Couldn’t Happen
To everyone who said, “They’d never go that far,” they just did. And the collapse has already begun.
With Executive Order 14270, Donald Trump issued not a policy revision but a regulatory kill order.
The EO mandates that all regulations under energy-related authority—especially those administered by agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Departments of Interior and Energy—must be reviewed and either revised to align with the administration’s priorities or be automatically terminated by September 30, 2026. While for some agencies the EO does not name specific laws, many foundational protections fall within these agencies’ regulatory domains.
Some may argue this is simply a regulatory reset or a call for modernization. But this is not a review guided by science, need, or public interest. It is a mandate that requires rules to serve industry or disappear by default. There is no neutral path. There is no room for delay. If an agency fails to revise and reauthorize a rule in time, it expires. No matter how vital it is.
Legal experts and environmental attorneys have described similar regulatory strategies by the previous Trump administration as calculated attempts to dismantle environmental protections from within.
Even the rules that survive review will be rewritten, stripped of science and purpose, then repackaged as hollow compliance.
This is not a bureaucratic obstacle. It is a regulatory kill switch.
What that means in practice:
• Endangered Species Act—gone.
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act—gone.
• Marine Mammal Protection Act—one.
• Anadromous Fish Conservation Act—under threat.
• Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act—gone.
These aren’t just under review. They are all under attack.
Breadth and Scope of the Loss
The laws everyone recognizes, such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, are just the beginning.
Beneath them lie hundreds of foundational rules that safeguard public health, climate resilience, environmental justice, and disaster readiness. Under Executive Order 14270, they are all at risk.
Supporters may claim the order only targets outdated or burdensome regulations. But the text applies broadly and indiscriminately. It sets no exceptions for essential rules, no protections for high-impact safeguards, and no criteria for public benefit. Unless these rules are rewritten to meet the new standards and reauthorized by September 30, 2026, they will expire. Along with them goes the regulatory backbone of modern environmental protection.
This is not theoretical. These laws will fall unless actively rescued.
Key protections on the chopping block:
Air, Water, and Public Health
• Clean Air Act
• Clean Water Act
• Safe Drinking Water Act
• Toxic Substances Control Act
• Superfund cleanup authority
• Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Land and Resource Protection
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
• Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act
• Wilderness Act
• Antiquities Act
• Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
• Federal Land Policy and Management Act
Energy and Climate
• Energy Policy Act of 2005
• Greenhouse gas endangerment finding
• Energy Star Program
• Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Each of these took years, sometimes decades, of organizing, science, and compromise to create. They were not handed down by elites. They were won by people who refused to accept poisoned air, burning rivers, and dead coastlines.
Now they are being erased in a single executive order. Not one by one. All at once. This is not a rollback. It is erasure.
The Hidden Collapse
Executive Order 14270 does not just target major environmental laws. It dismantles the infrastructure that makes those laws real.
Supporters may argue that the laws remain untouched. But behind every statute, like the Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act, are thousands of rules, monitoring systems, enforcement protocols, and technical standards. Without them, laws are just words on paper.
Now, all of that must be rewritten to serve polluters. If not, it disappears permanently.
Thousands of environmental regulations administered by agencies such as the EPA and the Department of the Interior could be subject to review and potential termination under Executive Order 14270.
Here is what that collapse looks like:
Public Health Protections
• Air monitoring rules vanish. No alerts for lead, benzene, or ozone.
• Radiation limits are lifted. Safety near nuclear sites erodes.
• Vehicle emissions testing ends. Smog returns to U.S. cities.
Water, Waste, and Pollution
• Stormwater runoff restrictions disappear. Waste floods rivers.
• Hazardous waste transport rules vanish. Disposal turns chaotic.
• Drilling oversight ends. Protected lands are opened to industry.
Climate and Disaster Response
• Energy efficiency rules are revoked. Electric bills rise.
• Fire mitigation programs are defunded. Wildfires grow deadlier.
• Fisheries protections vanish. Coastal economies are destabilized.
This is not just about forests or fish. It is about tap water, asthma medication, grocery prices, and cancer risks.
Betsy Southerland, former EPA director of science and technology for water, has warned that deregulatory approaches of this kind could lead to systemic breakdowns in public health protections.
This order does not trim fat. It guts the public architecture that keeps America safe, functional, and future-ready.
The Economic and Societal Cost
The damage from Executive Order 14270 will not stop with wildlife or wilderness. It will hammer the economy; threaten public health; and unravel industries that depend on clean air, safe water, and protected landscapes.
Some defenders will argue that environmental regulations stifle business, raise costs, or limit innovation. But environmental law in America was not born from ideology. It was forged in crisis, created to prevent economic collapse, mass illness, and ecological ruin. Many of these statutes were passed with overwhelming bipartisan support because Americans knew the cost of doing nothing was greater.
The Clean Air Act passed under former President Richard Nixon. The 1972 Clean Water Act was called “the most comprehensive and expensive environmental legislation in the nation’s history.” These laws did not just protect nature. They helped build the modern economy.
Many of the protections now targeted form the backbone of multibillion-dollar industries:
Wildlife and National Identity
• The Endangered Species Act saved the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and California condor.
• The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects ecosystems and supports rural economies across the country.
• The Marine Mammal Protection Act helped build a coastal tourism sector that generates billions.
• Fish conservation laws sustain sport fishing, a major driver in many regional economies.
Outdoor Economies
• Outdoor recreation supports $887 billion in consumer spending and 7.6 million jobs.
• Hiking, hunting, wildlife viewing, and camping all depend on healthy ecosystems.
• Without habitat protections, what is Yellowstone without wolves, or the coast without whales?
The law may speak of species and land. But the stakes are money, jobs, health, and identity.
This executive order guts the systems that protect them all.
The Human Toll and Environmental Injustice
The collapse will not hit everyone equally. It never does.
When environmental protections vanish, the first to suffer are the poor, the marginalized, and the politically powerless.
Some may argue that environmental burdens are shared evenly across society. But the data and history say otherwise. Environmental harm follows lines of poverty, race, and neglect. It hits those with the fewest resources, the least political power, and the highest exposure to toxins.
Without the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, vulnerable communities will lose safeguards against dumping, runoff, and lead contamination. New water crises will erupt in towns already on the edge.
Without the Clean Air Act, toxic smog will return to cities, especially in low-income and minority neighborhoods shaped by redlining and industrial zoning.
Without the National Environmental Policy Act, communities will have no voice in what gets built near their homes: pipelines, refineries, highways, landfills.
Without Superfund enforcement, the most toxic sites in America will be left to rot. Poison will seep into soil, water, and lives.
This is not theory. It is already happening:
• In Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, petrochemical plants poison Black neighborhoods. Cancer rates there are 50 times the national average.
• In West Virginia, abandoned coal towns face toxic water and respiratory illness.
• In Alaska and the Southwest, Indigenous communities still live beside Cold War-era uranium waste.
• Along the Pacific coast, salmon vanish and fishing economies unravel.
These are not isolated stories. They are previews.
The burden will fall hardest on those without lawyers, lobbyists, or local health departments—families already excluded from public hearings, ignored by regulators, and left behind by politics.
Executive Order 14270 turns temporary harm into permanent abandonment.
This is not just inequality. It is environmental apartheid..
Regulatory Collapse Is Guaranteed
This is not hypothetical. It is structural failure, built into the design.
Executive Order 14270 sets an impossible mandate: Every environmental regulation must be reviewed, revised, and reauthorized by September 30, 2026. If not, it will expire automatically.
Some will claim that with enough willpower and coordination, agencies can meet the deadline. But that is a myth. There are not enough staff. There is not enough time. And there is no intention to make it work. The order was built to break the system, not to improve it.
Environmental watchdogs and legal analysts suggest that only a small percentage of rules could realistically be reviewed and reissued before the deadline.
This is not deregulation. It is planned demolition.
Here is what that guarantees:
• Legal protections for ecosystems will collapse.
• Clean air and water rules will disappear.
• Ecotourism and outdoor recreation will suffer.
• Climate policy will be paralyzed.
• Inequality will worsen as states scramble to fill the void.
• Courts will be overwhelmed by lawsuits and confusion.
• Irreversible environmental damage will be locked in for generations.
Even if a future administration tries to reverse the damage, it could take years or even decades to rebuild what was destroyed.
Some things will not survive that long: species, coastlines, forests, ecosystems.
This is not a policy failure. It is policy used as a weapon.
The extinction of environmental protections is not a side effect. It is the goal.
Can This EO Actually Be Enforced?
Technically, yes. Executive Order 14270 can be enforced. But legally and practically, it is a minefield for all concerned.
Agencies can initiate rule reviews and assign expiration dates, especially when leadership supports the administration’s anti-regulatory agenda. But that does not make it lawful.
Under the Administrative Procedure Act, agencies must follow strict procedures before repealing or replacing rules. They must issue public notices, allow comment periods, hold hearings, and provide justifications. They cannot simply say, “The president told us to.”
Some defenders may argue the president has broad authority to manage agencies. But the law is clear: Regulatory repeal must follow legal process. Many of the protections targeted by this order were enacted by Congress. Agencies do not have the authority to let them quietly expire or gut them without breaking the law.
That is why lawsuits are already being filed. Legal challenges will come from environmental groups, state attorneys general, and public interest organizations.
But here is the catch: the damage will not wait.
While courts deliberate, rules will expire. Enforcement will be suspended. Polluters will act as if the rules are already gone.
Even if a judge rules against the administration, the harm will be done:
• Toxic waste released.
• Forests cleared.
• Communities exposed.
And if the White House refuses to comply? There is no enforcement arm of the Administrative Procedure Act. No agency exists to compel federal departments to enforce their own rules.
The only option is to sue, repeatedly, rule by rule, across jurisdictions.
As one Earthjustice attorney put it, “The law doesn’t enforce itself. And this administration knows it.”
Litigation takes money, time, expertise, and legal standing. These are resources many frontline communities do not have.
Environmental lawyers and watchdogs saw this coming. They are already planning for fights across dozens of fronts: air quality, pipelines, species protection, data suppression, and executive action.
But how many lawsuits will it take? 10? 50? 100?
Each one will be slow. Expensive. Uncertain.
This is not incompetence. It is sabotage, carried out with full intent.
And What About the Planet
This executive order is not just a domestic disaster.It is a climate change nuclear bomb.
Executive Order 14270 erases the foundation of nearly every federal climate policy:
• It nullifies the greenhouse gas endangerment finding, the legal trigger for regulating carbon emissions.
• It dismantles efficiency standards for appliances, buildings, and vehicles.
• It undermines the Energy Star Program and other clean energy incentives.
• It guts methane rules, fuel economy standards, and oil spill safeguards.
Some will argue that climate progress can continue without federal policy, through state action or private innovation. But without national coordination, incentives, and legal authority, that progress will slow, fragmented, and ultimately fall short. Federal policy drives investment, enforces accountability, and sets the global tone.
With these tools gone, the United States cannot meet its climate goals. Not nationally. Not globally.
We will miss our Paris agreement targets. We will exceed the 1.5°C warming threshold. And we will pull other nations backward with us.
The damage is not just about emissions. It is about lost leadership. Lost credibility. And a green light to polluters everywhere.
This is not a pause. It is a reversal.
Climate collapse is no longer a distant danger. It is a scheduled event, signed into law by the president.
The Heart of It
This executive order does not repeal environmental laws. It kills the systems that make those laws work.
The Clean Air Act will still exist. But if EPA regulations expire, there will be no enforcement.
The Endangered Species Act will remain on paper. But without specific protections and triggers, no species will be protected.
This is the method: Dismantle implementation. Remove enforcement. Let the law collapse from the inside out.
It is a bureaucratic kill switch, designed to erase a century of environmental progress without ever repealing a statute.
Legal on paper. Lethal in practice.
Once the rules disappear, the laws become theater:
• No enforcement.
• No funding.
• No consequences.
They will still be on the books, but they will no longer matter.
Empty laws. Empty air. Empty rivers. Empty promises.
How We Fight, and Why We Must
There is no silver-bullet lawsuit. No single agency. No shortcut.
This executive order will not be stopped by one clever court challenge. It will take dozens, perhaps hundreds, of battles—rule by rule, agency by agency, ecosystem by ecosystem.
Some will ask, why not file one big lawsuit to stop it all? Because Executive Order 14270 does not repeal a single law. It sets a countdown clock for thousands of regulations to vanish unless reauthorized. That makes it nearly lawsuit-proof by design. Each rule must be challenged individually, and only after harm has occurred. Courts cannot force agencies to act unless Congress explicitly mandates it. And even then, litigation takes time. By the time a ruling arrives, the damage may already be done. The law does not enforce itself. And this executive order exploits that fact.
There is no cavalry. Only us.
So we fight, everywhere:
• File lawsuits, fast and often: Legal action is the first and last line of defense. Every expired rule must be challenged. Every unlawful revision must be contested. Rapid-response legal teams must be ready to sue the EPA, Department of the Interior, and Department of Energy across multiple jurisdictions. Delay means destruction.
• Support legal and watchdog organizations: Groups like Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Biological Diversity are already fighting. But they are underfunded and overwhelmed. They need staff, experts, and resources. Every donation matters. Every volunteer strengthens the line.
• Pressure elected officials at every level: Demand public hearings. Demand oversight. Call your governor. Write your city council. Make it politically toxic to support this executive order.
• Act locally: States and cities can pass their own clean air and water laws. They can fund conservation, restrict drilling, and sue federal agencies. Join local groups. Attend zoning meetings. Run for water boards and planning commissions. Build resistance into local government.
• Refuse to normalize this: Speak out. Disrupt. Document. This is not politics as usual. Say so. Organize protests. Submit op-eds. Flood comment periods. Call out silence. Expose polluters. Make the truth visible.
• Demand media coverage: Executive Order 14270 should be a daily headline. If it is not, make it one. Share stories. Elevate frontline voices. Hold media outlets accountable. If national media fails, local and independent voices must rise.
This is a regulatory blitz.And resistance must be relentless.
The strategy is simple: flood the system, fracture it, and exhaust the opposition.
While we scramble to save species, lands, and laws, they bulldoze everything else.
This is not a warning. It is a dispatch from the front lines.
They are not debating whether to dismantle environmental protections. They are dismantling them, right now.
If you ever said, “They would never go that far,” They just did.
This is not just bad policy. It is a deliberate attempt to cripple the government’s ability to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the climate we depend on, and the living world we love.
It is not a mistake. It is the plan.
The question is no longer what they will do. The question is what we will do about it.
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The US Is in Free Fall, But We Can Turn Things Around by Valuing Our Neighbors Over Money
The United States’ version of capitalism has systematically failed its population through corporate greed and manipulation of the legislature. But don’t lose hope.
May 11, 2025
The United States is often revered as the most powerful nation in the world. The U.S. has a strong economy; the most equipped military on the planet; a working class of over 130 million people; the biggest GDP of any nation; and large music, film, agricultural, beauty, food, fossil fuel, and technology industries. However, many of these industries are on the brink of collapsing, or are already starting to. Most industries were built on the backs of a marginalized working class, and continue to perpetuate deep flaws in integrity from the wealthiest 1%.
By examining my own life as an impoverished Kānaka ʻŌiwi (Indigenous person), comparisons to socialist ideologies, and through extensive economic analysis, we will find the truth of how the United States’ version of capitalism has systematically failed its population through corporate greed and manipulation of the legislature.
It’s difficult for me to find footing to explain Hawaiian culture to anyone, because most of it has been erased. Hawaiian is a critically endangered language, with only 2,000 native speakers at one point in time. In the few years I lived in Hawaii during my early childhood, I always questioned tourism, and I always questioned what was going into our clear oceans. I questioned why others visiting was so “important,” why the beaches and trails were always overcrowded with not only people but litter, and why the natives always spoke of the “haoli” with such ferocity. I quickly connected the dots as to the negative effects of taking advantage of such a beautiful land, but before I could do anything about it, we were moving, and headed off to Texas.
As financially successful as the United States is, it’s clear this “success” is an illusion that, when looked at more closely, is rampant with corruption.
Growing up raised by a single mother in a poor area off the metropolis of San Antonio, my family faced many struggles. Before we had to leave him, father would come home from working 70 hours a week just to support our family, and the hours took a toll on his mental and physical health. His knees were weak, his voice hoarse, and overall seemed off. Watching my father waste his life away in a society that treated him and his native people ruthlessly instilled in me a strong feeling of injustice.
By the time I was at the age to look for work, I could hardly juggle working for tips after school in the eighth grade while trying to impress my family with my academic achievements. The issues my family faced snowballed and forced their way into adulthood. Not a dime was saved for my sister and me after we finished high school. Learning this, I understood my options were narrow, and I had to work longer hours to get into the college I wanted. Luckily, I was accepted into a great university, but I had to start working as many hours as I possibly could to support myself.
It’s no secret that the U.S. is highly segregated, not only by race, but by income. Want to get the best education? Well, you’d better have enough money for that. Want health insurance? Be sure to pray you don’t turn 26. It’s a constant reminder of “inferiority” that kills the will of impoverished children, marginalizes people of color, and amplifies the richness of those who were born into wealth. It disrespects the time and work the lower and middle class pour into the golden cups of CEOs and investors. According to the American Journal of Public Health: “Neighborhoods ‘redlined’ by the Home Owners Loan Corporation in the 1930s (i.e., neighborhoods with large Black and immigrant populations) experience higher rates of firearm violence today than do neighborhoods deemed most desirable. This past de jure segregation may be related to present-day violence via impacts on education, transportation, jobs, income and wealth, and the built environment.” These same people who were segregated and forced into these disadvantaged, gerrymandered zip codes to begin with, and are often too poor to relocate, continually face the blame for the issues in this country. In other words, we, the working class, bear the pain and consequences of a failing nation that we’ve traded our lives and well-being to support.
Teachers, nurses, janitors, dishwashers, firefighters, truck drivers, grocery baggers, servers, social workers, and many more all comprise the working class. These respectable people are our neighbors, our community, our family. Our families, however, don’t reap the benefits of this work, and it’s easy to prove it. As of 2025, the ratio of the price of the average house divided by the median household income in America is at 7.37, an all-time high. This is even worse than during the housing crisis of 2008, where it was 6.82. In some metro areas, this number exceeds 10 for renters. With education, the price of attending college adjusted for inflation has skyrocketed over 500% in the last half-century, and the average American is spending $14,570 on healthcare per year, a 670% increase from $2,151 in 1970.
One of the main issues that capitalism in America causes when left unchecked is large monopolies that control the market too tightly, which undermine a free economy. Among markets that are “thriving” in the U.S., as discussed before, many of these markets consist of only a handful or less of main corporations controlled by billionaires. As a result, the market loses its flexibility. If the top dogs are struggling, it means everyone is. Most Americans don’t grow their goods. We buy goods from a supermarket that gets their produce and other items shipped from mass production farms and factories, filled with chemicals and human rights violations.
There are, however, alternatives that we can learn from. In other countries, there are creative solutions that will be briefly covered. Our first example, Vietnam, reformed in 1986, shifting to a more “socialist-oriented” market economy, where they implemented reforms in the country that led to positive changes and reductions in inflation. They allowed farmers to sell their surplus crops to private markets, leading small farmers and local businesses to thrive even during a recession. In the case of Cuba, their government established a food rationing system on March 12, 1962, called the libreta, that allowed citizens to purchase necessities and services at an affordable price.
Left unchecked, the prices and quality of life in the United States will continue to dwindle, and soon the country won’t have a healthy population to support itself. Many other countries have already realized this, such as France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. They employ similar rules to set price caps on pharmaceutical services and products. For example, in the U.K., they have a price limit on prescriptions. You pay nine pounds and ninety pence, no matter what prescription, no matter how many pills you need. If you need 30 pills or 90, it’s all the same. In Canada, you don’t have to pay anything for healthcare; instead, they’ve all agreed to pay a slight percentage increase to their taxes so that everyone gets free healthcare. As a result, poor people don’t avoid going to the hospital when they get ill or injured, because they don’t dread the hospital bill, or get turned away from a surgery or life-saving care due to insurance or money problems. This is precisely why Canadians live on average three years longer than Americans.
The flaws in the United States’ version of capitalism, such as price gouging, violations of workers’ rights, and the commodification of human lives and experiences, are felt greatest by those who are economically disadvantaged. In the United States, if you are born into poverty, you have over a 90% chance of staying in the same tax bracket you were born in. This is because trends show that over the past 50 years, the poorest 20% of American citizens have seen zero increase in wages (adjusted for inflation). In contrast, the wealthiest 1% nearly doubled their wealth over the same period. Furthermore, these wage issues affect marginalized groups more adversely, such as females, people who have disabilities, people of color, and people who identify with the LGBT community. Fifty-one Fortune 500 Companies have CEOs who make over 840 times the amount of the average worker for their company in wages.
These issues with wages, coupled with the rising costs of living, are causing people in poor communities to either find more roommates than the space can comfortably accommodate to afford rent, or become homeless. Unfortunately, once that happens, it’s mostly game over for most Americans. The U.S. infrastructure provides little to no assistance to those who are homeless or need necessities. Overcrowding in the few homeless shelters that do exist leads to overflow and people being denied rooms, forced to wait in the cold overnight. In Denton, Texas earlier this year, a locally renowned woman named Kimberly Pollock, who became homeless due to personal financial struggles, was turned away from a warming shelter and froze to death outside. She was somebody’s daughter, and she was a close, dear friend to many. These preventable and tragic losses of our local citizens are only the tip of the iceberg.
Once a magnifying glass is aimed at American capitalism, it becomes clear that the system works exactly as intended, to make the most money possible, no matter the means necessary. Ample industries rake in more money than any other country, and since more assets are being put on the table, it’s all positive reinforcement to keep going. The food, drug, and beauty industries are all aware of this. In the European Union (which formed in 1993), over 2,400 harmful chemicals have been banned in food and cosmetics. In contrast, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which oversees the safety of produce, drugs, cosmetics, and other products in the United States, has only banned 11 harmful chemicals as of today.
This disparity in the regulation of our foods, hygiene products, furniture, pesticides, medicines, and more has several key drawbacks. First, the FDA bans only a small number of chemicals because it allows companies to put cheaper, yet more harmful, chemicals in their products. Usually, it’s done to increase shelf life or to heighten the taste of a food. This causes Americans to become overloaded with chemicals and become sick, slowly and chronically. Once this occurs, an American is forced to see if they can afford to deal with their illness for the rest of their lives in their healthcare system. Bloated, high off should-be-banned chemicals, tired from working excess hours with no time off, upset with the cost of living, with a serious illness, but too poor to pay for help. It’s a lose-lose-lose situation, and this is the sad reality for many of our neighbors.
The part of capitalism that I believe makes it unredeemable is the fact that it is in direct conflict with our form of government. The United States is a representative democracy, but to run for office, you have to have thousands, if not millions, of dollars to have a strong campaign. That already excludes any low-income citizens from running for a higher-up position. Secondly, most people in our government can be “bought out” or influenced politically through lots of bribery. It’s the sad truth, but our last hope of reforming the system, through law reversal, is corrupted as well. For example, in 2024 alone, over $150 million dollars were covertly given to the Senate, House, and both presidential candidates by the fossil fuel industry alone. Some of these people include U.S. President Donald J. Trump, with over $2,100,000; former Vice President Kamala Harris, with over $1,300,000; and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), with over $1,000,000. The numbers for food industries in 2024, such as Coca-Cola, exceeded $24 million dollars. These companies are paying our “representatives” to vote in their interests, not ours. This is the reason why no chemicals are being banned, why we keep going to war with countries that coincidentally have tons of oil underneath them, and why we make so much more money than anyone else.
One of the most alarming things about the current state of the United States is that, under its current administration, there seems to be no plans for reform from our government. Despite worldwide protests, public uproar, and the deaths of many innocent citizens, it seems no steps are being taken to address the undeniable inhumanity of the United States. To try and redirect our anger at the lack of change, fingers are often pointed at the most disadvantaged of our population. People of color, gay, or poor communities are blamed for not working hard enough, shooting their kind, stealing, or getting addicted to drugs. It’s the Mexicans stealing our jobs, and the immigrants paying no taxes, or drag queens influencing our children the wrong way. It’s never the 151 mass shootings since 1982, the 26,000 Americans who die each year from not having insurance, or the sad reality that a woman only makes 83% of what a man makes in the same job position.
As financially successful as the United States is, it’s clear this “success” is an illusion that, when looked at more closely, is rampant with corruption. Even though things look unfixable, I encourage you not to lose hope and to look to your neighbor with compassion. We became the country that values our money more than our neighbors, that focuses on productivity, and not connectivity, by taking, and not giving. Figuring out adulthood as a queer, homeless Hawaiian in Texas would have been impossible without my close friends whom I met along the way. They are a constant reminder that even though we live in a country known for its selfishness, that is not a valid placeholder for the average American.
In Hawaii, we have a saying that goes Ua kuluma ke kanaka i ke aloha, meaning, we are all naturally loving people. I believe this is true. We’ve been misguided as a country and as a people, and our values have been manipulated over generations to value material possessions instead of other souls. We must reclaim our administration, restore our poor and middle class communities, and actively fight having to choose between profits and people. Slowly, and with powerful, passionate change, we can dismantle systems that commodify the human experience, and the American dream won’t be something we have to be asleep to live in.
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Which Is Not Like the Other: Teeth or a Windshield?
Happy Mother's Day 2025.
May 11, 2025
A pebble is kicked up from traffic in front of you, and a deep pit in the windshield causes a crack that must be fixed. No worries. You have car insurance, you think. The windshield repair team tells you that you have a $500 deductible and that the new windshield is $525. You are confused and angry about paying for car insurance for years, only to discover it is inadequate when you need it. You opt not to file a claim because that would likely raise your insurance rates yet again. It’s cash out-of-pocket for you.
While waiting for the windshield replacement, you crack a tooth on a mint. No worries. You have dental insurance, you think. The dental office staff tells you that you have a 50% benefit for the tooth repair and that your portion of the dental care is $525. You are confused and angry about paying for dental insurance for years, only to discover it is inadequate when you need it. The dentists never take payments anymore (unless you find a financing company in advance to pay the dentist and bill you over many months). What choice do you really have? The tooth must be fixed. It’s cash out-of-pocket for you.
We don’t like to think we are being bilked out of thousands of dollars by insurance companies, and yet we have almost come to accept it. No matter whether it’s your car windshield or your teeth, it’s all the same. You are only covered to the extent that the insurance company has determined will most effectively maximize their profits and keep you paying that monthly premium year after year. Your safety in your vehicle and/or your health are not the goal of car insurance or private dental insurance. Knowing that the entire insurance industry equates your car with part of your physical body as they underwrite is simply gross.
Teeth are not windshields or catalytic converters or bumpers. Teeth are a vital part of our bodies and our health.
Mothers (and fathers) across the country go without a windshield repair due to a lack of cash, whether they file a claim or not. Mothers (and fathers) across the country put off fixing broken teeth due to a lack of cash, whether they file a claim or not. If we didn’t know better, we would think it’s sort of a shakedown every time we need a dentist. It’s wrong. Teeth are not windshields or catalytic converters or bumpers. Teeth are a vital part of our bodies and our health.
I’ve gone almost a year without teeth now. Twenty-four of my teeth were pulled in July 2024. My health has suffered greatly as the weeks and months passed. Soon, I may get my partial dentures. Finally. My Delta Dental covers less than half of the overall cost. So, I went to our wonderful dental school for help. Voila. It seems insurance only gets you in the door, but that coverage and your debit/credit/cash gets you the help you need over time. A long, long time.
Passing a real beautiful bill would be one that insures the entire human body—womb to tomb. Teeth. Ears. Eyes. Toes. Nose. Fingers. Tummy. Health insurance for our whole body that leaves out no bodily system.
Last week, Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) in the U.S. Senate and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) in the House introduced the great, big, and beautiful bills that would improve and expand Medicare to cover my teeth and yours—our whole bodies. We would all pay our premiums through our normal tax process with coverage that really is comprehensive. We would not find ourselves unable to keep our teeth healthy from the get-go so that some far into the future Mother’s Day wish has to include a set of partial dentures, if needed, or better yet, keeps Mom’s teeth in better shape so there is no need to pull them to make way for metal and resin.
Imagine a publicly financed healthcare system that costs less and covers it all. No co-payments and no deductibles. No middle-of-the-night GoFundMe pages set up to pay for care. And no need to fear losing a job and insurance benefits. Your life and mine—equal and valued—in a system that sees not only our oral health but also our whole bodies as worthy of appropriate and necessary healthcare as determined by our doctors and nurses.
People resist the commercialism of Mother’s Day in America, yet I don’t have time for that. It seems that not having teeth has made every day for the past 10 months a reminder of how little we value mothers. If you don’t care enough about moms to make sure they do not spend months of quiet desperation, embarrassment, and shame around a lack of cash to pay for healthcare, at least buy your moms a supply of baby food to enjoy on her special day. If we do care to prevent the need to do that, we must pass improved and expanded Medicare for All. Mom will love it. And she’ll have teeth.
Happy Mother’s Day 2025.
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Advanced Recycling Is a Fraud—And the Big Oil Plastics Industry Knows It
This is just a new version of a sad and familiar story: the plastics industry's attempt to use the idea of recycling to protect its license to operate and continue producing ever-greater amounts of plastic.
May 11, 2025
At a chemical recycling conference last year, an industry consultant warned attendees that “[d]elays & setbacks ... open the door for an increasing number of reports & press articles expressing doubt & strong criticism about the industry’s claims.”
They were right.
Facing growing pressure to confront the plastic waste crisis, the plastics industry claims to have found a solution: "advanced recycling." But there is a huge divide between the plastics industry's public claims about the potential of advanced recycling to address the plastic waste crisis and the technical realities of chemical recycling processes.
All available information suggests advanced recycling won’t be able to address plastic pollution at a meaningful scale — and some of the most compelling evidence comes from people within the plastics industry. A new report I authored at the Center for Climate Integrity makes clear it’s not just environmental groups that are pointing out the limitations of this so-called new technology — it's the experts who know the industry best, including chemical engineers, consultants, trade organizations, and plastics producers themselves, who consistently undermine the industry's claims.
“The Fraud of Advanced Recycling” shows how the industry makes five key claims — all of which mislead the public.
It’s not just environmental groups that are pointing out the limitations of this so-called new technology — it's the experts who know the industry best...
First, the plastics industry presents advanced recycling as new and groundbreaking — like when Exxon CEO Darren Woods called it a "brand new technology" in 2022. It’s not new. The plastics industry has been trying to scale up chemical recycling to address plastic waste for more than 50 years to no avail. According to California’s plastic recycling deception lawsuit against ExxonMobil, virtually the same process Exxon is using today was patented by Mobil all the way back in 1978, and efforts in the decades since have faced predictable problems.
What is new is the name. The industry only started using "advanced recycling" in the last 10 years, marketing it as an amalgamation of every imaginable benefit of every distinct chemical recycling process with none of their respective downsides.
Second, the plastics industry claims that advanced recycling is scaling up to address the plastic waste crisis, even though experts point out that the same economic and technical limitations that have plagued chemical recycling for decades still hold true. Major plastics producers have made advanced recycling commitments, but none of them have a practical pathway to meeting them. Exxon has said that it will process 1 billion pounds annually by the end of 2026, but has processed a tiny fraction of that so far.
Experts have warned that there is not a viable pathway to scaling up for years. In 2017, consulting firm Accenture and the European Chemical Industry Council noted that “the ability to perform the process at industrial scale is still a technological challenge — and currently not economically feasible.” Just last year, the Association of Plastic Recyclers said that "much of the information promoting chemical recycling technologies overlooks the necessary design, collection, sortation, and end markets that need to be in place for any type of recycling to scale.”
As one expert consultant summarized, “we’ve had a few successes and a ton of failures; capacity has not developed as major projects have been delayed or cancelled.” These failures have left the industry with an “[u]rgent need for success stories,” in the words of another consultant.
The third key claim about advanced recycling is that it can address the problem of post-consumer mixed plastic waste that mechanical recycling can't. Dow, for example, says that advanced recycling allows for “recycling the unrecyclable.” But the reality is that particular chemical recycling processes are only suitable for particular kinds of plastics and can't handle contamination, meaning advanced recycling is subject to many of the same constraints that have limited the effectiveness of mechanical recycling.
The Flexible Packaging Association explains that advanced recycling “requires plastic material that is of suitable quality, with low levels of contamination and at sufficient volume to meet demand. These are some of the same challenges facing the mechanical recycling infrastructure.” Or as the industry-funded Alliance to End Plastic Waste put it in 2022, "while advanced recycling should be viewed as a recycling outlet for a different range of materials, it should not be viewed as a recycling outlet for contaminated materials or unsorted materials.”
Fourth, the industry presents advanced recycling as environmentally friendly, despite the fact that these processes produce hazardous pollutants and are extremely energy-intensive, with a Duke research group noting that chemical recycling "poses significant threats of harm to already overburdened communities" and calling for "caution in evaluating the industry's claims." The industry has done little to assuage these concerns. As one consultant explained, “[c]oncerns about potential externalities remain largely unaddressed.”
The fifth claim is that advanced recycling enables a circular economy — Shell, for example, says that it's "working to close the loop: helping to transform the plastic value chain from linear to circular.” But advanced recycling processes don't keep plastic in the production cycle and don't limit the production of virgin plastic made from fossil fuels — key tenets of the concept of a circular economy.
The reality is that a very small percentage of the material that goes into the most commonly-used chemical recycling processes can come out on the other side as feedstocks for new plastics. One industry-affiliated group acknowledge that “[c]onversion processes typically have low yields, especially when discounting the portion of materials going to fuels."
In the end, though, circularity would be a threat to the petrochemical companies’ business of extracting more fossil fuels and making more plastics. As an investment firm with industry ties explained, any positive impacts associated with advanced recycling would require "shifting away from oil exploration and new extraction infrastructure," since it would only lead to benefits "when it displaces the use of virgin plastics."
California's lawsuit against ExxonMobil alleges that the company has promoted advanced recycling, at least in part, to avoid that outcome — what it sees as "the 'negative' impacts/consequences of the ... adoption of the circular economy way of thinking." Advanced recycling allows the industry to present the public with a seemingly acceptable solution that doesn't put limits on plastic production. It provides the industry with the cover of a perfect technological solution that demands no changes in the way we use plastics.
This is just a new version of the same story: the plastics industry's attempt to use the idea of recycling to protect its license to operate and continue producing ever-greater amounts of plastic, regardless of the consequences.
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