I don’t know about you, but the sheer volume of crazy coming out of the current U.S. administration is like a tsunami of impossible. Every day is one, two, three, or more headlines each more preposterous than the last.

One thing, at least in my mind, that seems just incredible is the climate denial. I mean, how hard is it? We need clean air to breathe, right? Clean water to drink? Land that isn’t toxic to grow our food on? How hard is that concept? Seems like a no brainer, right? Even if you don’t believe in a climate change, it would just make sense to agree that not polluting our planet is a good plan.

So, even though there have been, at times, four or more crazy things a day coming from the White House in just the past week, I’m going to talk about this. Climate change. And my previous statement stands, at least in my opinion. How hard is it to say, well, I don’t believe in climate change but dang, we probably shouldn’t pump a lot of toxic crap into our water, onto our land, or into our air? After all, we live here, right? Shouldn’t shit in our own bed.

But, for some reason, that doesn’t track. Not only here in the United States, but worldwide. Especially if a teenage girl is pushing the agenda.

Not long ago I read an article by The New Republic, https://newrepublic.com/article/154879/misogyny-climate-deniers. I was totally blown away. Where I found a young, passionate, fully engaged young person crying out for people to hear, apparently, many found, well, something else. Here’s a quote from the article.

“…the idea that white men would lead the attacks on Greta Thunberg is consistent with a growing body of research linking gender reactionaries to climate-denialism — some of the research coming from Thunberg’s own country. Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology, which recently launched the world’s first academic research center to study climate denialism, have for years been examining a link between climate deniers and the anti-feminist far- right.”

Feminist. The desire for clean air, water, and land, is feminist, so somehow, undesirable. Even from male environmentalists. They sugar coat it, of course. The article, if you read it in its entirety, blames women, somehow, for infringing on male superiority. I’m simplifying, of course. I don’t have a sociology degree. So I can’t say. But to ravage a young woman for being passionate about protecting our planet from death? Really? You don’t like to breathe? You don’t want your children or grand-children to enjoy the same cool woods and streams you’ve enjoyed? You want to eat toxic food?

I’ve never understood people who object to the environmental protection laws. “It will make our goods more expensive,” they say. My response is, So? So what? If I have to pay my local government or the local contractor to take care of my garbage in a safe and environmentally sound way, why shouldn’t the companies who create my goods and services? It doesn’t save me money to have them take their toxic waste out of the back door of their factory and dump it in the dark of night in the local streams or rivers. I still end up paying for it in the long run. Either in healthcare costs or in clean up costs via taxes. I’d rather the cost was upfront. Part of the price I pay for the good or service. If it costs money to clean up the waste of creating a good or service, make that part of the price! How hard is that to fathom?

As for the environment being feminist. Well, I guess it is. At least if that means it’s feminist to try and protect our own and future generations from a global catastrophe. I remember the first Earth Day. I was still in high school. In my town, the streams were so polluted from leather-making runoff that one stream actually spontaneously combusted. As a child, I remember on approaching certain stream crossings in the car, holding my breath as we approached because the stench of the stream was so bad.

As a young woman, I remember approaching the Los Angeles basin from upstate California. The smog was so dense at my boyfriend’s home, that mountains, just a mile distant, were only revealed to me after a night’s rain. It was my third visit and I’d no idea the mountains were there. The smog was so thick I’d never seen them. I was so surprised.

I do not want to return to the time that mountains, just a mile away, are hidden in the smog. I do not want to return to the time that steams can spontaneously combust from the heavy burden of toxins flowing in the stream bed. I do not want to try and grow crops in soil contaminated with industrial waste. It has become so much better after the Environmental Protection Act. The environment isn’t a feminist concept. It’s a human need.

You can help. Call or email your state and federal representatives. Let them know that you want laws to protect your family from toxic waste. It really is in your hands. It’s not just for feminists.