I fear for humanity's ability to survive the impending catastrophic environmental failure. I'm a black American, and I've dealt with racism, discrimination, inflated healthcare costs, and inflated education costs all my life. These are bad things, and they will probably get worse under Trump. But these are things I can survive (probably). Catastrophic environmental failure is different. I don't live near an ocean, but I really don't want to see what it looks like when the world's entire coastal population (~3-4 billion people) scrambles for higher ground.

After the U.S. rolls back environmental regulations and starts burning fossil fuels like nobody's business, the world's temperature will rise and pretty much everybody on the planet will be in danger of being swept away- either by the rising oceans or by the rushing tides of climate refugees. It's true we're only one country, and maybe it's arrogant to think that we will decide the fate of the world, but America's greenhouse gas emissions are exceeded only by the Chinese, and even they are starting to get their shit together when it comes to climate change. But the fact remains that if there were to be a solution to climate change, America would have to be a part of it.

But look what's happening instead. President-Elect Trump (ffs) believes that climate change is a Chinese hoax. And so do his appointed cabinet members and bureaucrats. And so does the congress that backs him. Now, instead of minimizing the damage to our environment, we are going to fuck around and fuck it up for the foreseeable future. If we ever realize our mistake (which we won't), it will already be too late, if it isn't already. Most of us don't even believe it's happening. My country has given me plenty of reasons to be ashamed in the past, but this is the first time I've actually lost hope. I'm actually starting to consider how I'll survive if, or when, it all falls down. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.