National Parks System Advisory Board Resignation Further Proves the Administration Doesn’t Care About the Environment

Trump and his administration have continuously attempted to undo and undermine much of the painstakingly carved out progress in civil rights, environmental protection and other causes we’ve been able to make over the years. In response, we’ve seen several instances of mass resignations as protest from those who found their position to better the nation fully incompatible with Trump’s actions. The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigned after Trump’s statement on Charlottesville, pulling out of the Paris Agreement, and attacks on the humanities. Five members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) resigned citing the president’s treatment towards health care and LGBTQIA communities.  University of California at Berkeley energy expert Daniel Kammen shared his letter of resignation which cited, well, everything.

While there’s a lot to be admired and respected for those trying to make change from the inside, it’s also admirable to see the individuals and groups that choose to do their work elsewhere and make public the dangerous and hateful acts of those sworn to help the nation.

Which brings us to the National Parks System Advisory Board, where a majority have “jointly resigned to protest Trump administration policies that the board members say have ignored science, squelched efforts to address climate change and undermined environmental protections”, reports the NY Times. A letter dated Monday was signed by the head of the advisory board Tony Knowles and eight of the 12 members.

The board, which advises the government through the secretary of the interior on management of national parks, has had to work with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke who’s introduced a proposal to increase entrance fees dramatically, largely reduced Utah’s Bear Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, threatened Alaska, and announced a plan to allow offshore oil and gas drilling in almost all of the nation’s coastlines.

Knowles wrote, “From all of the events of this past year I have a profound concern that the mission of stewardship, protection, and advancement of our National Parks has been set aside.” In an interview, he said of the resignation, “We resigned because we were deeply disappointed with the department and we were concerned.” Knowles stated in an interview that Zinke, who didn’t meet with the board during his tenure “appears to have no interest in continuing the agenda of science, the effect of climate change, pursuing the protection of the ecosystem.”

(via NY Times, image via Shutterstock)

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