Rabbi Jennie Rosenn reacts to the first day of Donald Trump’s Presidency – and his Executive Orders on energy and climate
While howling winds threaten to whip up even more ferocious wildfires in Southern California, Americans would expect a new President to declare a climate emergency and dedicate new efforts to transitioning away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy solutions.
Instead, President Trump promised to “drill, baby, drill” during his official Inauguration address and on the first day of his second term he declared an “energy emergency.” He then signed a flurry of more than two dozen executive orders that aim to undo climate progress and unleash the fossil fuel industry.
In his first day, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement (again), stopped all permits for wind energy projects, froze climate spending under the Inflation Reduction Act, supported dirty methane gas exports, and weakened energy and water efficiency rules.
These actions fly in the face of science – but also violate any commitment to realizing a just and livable future. As Jews and people of faith, we believe our leaders should aspire to protect the sanctity of all life, sustaining the planet for all to thrive – l’dor v’dor – from generation to generation. Jewish values call us to protect the earth and humanity and not destroy; President Trump is steering us in the opposite direction.
President Trump’s opening words and actions paint a clear picture of a president whose agenda is strictly in the interests of fossil fuel corporations and their CEOs, not lowering costs for working families now and achieving a livable future for generations to come.
The science and the moral stakes couldn’t be more clear. Extracting and burning fossil fuels created the climate crisis: greenhouse gas emissions trap the sun’s heat inside the atmosphere, causing an increase in temperatures that exacerbate heat, drought, wildfires, storms. More fossil fuels means an acceleration of these trends. Climate disasters are already escalating in frequency and severity and too often fall hardest on communities that are already suffering from discrimination and disinvestment.
As a far-right trifecta of climate denialists comes into power at the federal level, we join our colleagues and movement leaders in turning our focus to the state and local level, where policymakers are leading the way to preserve progress, protect frontline communities, and invest in clean energy solutions.