Climate Connections: In 2025, let’s power forward, not roll back
Abby Huseth and Amy Cilimburg
It’s spring in Western Montana – which means we’re hearing excited reports about the first buttercup sightings of the year, the first Western Meadowlark and Varied Thrush songs to float through the air. It means stepping into the sunshine on a bluebird day, breathing deeply the clean air.
These beautiful signs of spring make last week’s announcement from Trump’s EPA head Lee Zeldin of the intention to slash dozens of crucial environmental protections all the more stunning.
Here in Missoula, we know what it’s like for clean air not to be a given. Not so many years ago, Missoula was the poster child for dangerous levels of air pollution. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the valley was filled with smog on any given day from the waste byproducts burned at local sawmills and papermills.
Enter the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency that same year, and with these, the establishment of the first federal standards for air pollution.
As enforcement of these new pollution limits made a huge dent in industrial emissions in the 70s, another source of air pollution became the biggest bad air culprit: wood smoke from residential stoves and fireplaces. According to Missoula County’s air quality history, during the 1980s the smog was sometimes so thick that “streetlights would turn on during the daylight hours. Health studies showed Missoula children had decreased lung function compared to children from cleaner parts of the state.”
Although we still have our share of air quality challenges - vehicle emissions remain a major source of pollution, particularly during winter inversions - we’ve come a long way since the 80’s. Our ability to enjoy days with blue skies and clean air in the Missoula valley is thanks to the tireless efforts of public health and local leaders to phase out these sources of pollution and implement the science-based health standards set by the EPA under the original and revised (1990) Clean Air Act.
These standards aren’t pulled out of thin air; they are based on rigorous studies to understand health implications. We are all healthier because of the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) which informs decisions and addresses emerging human and ecosystem health issues, like air pollution from wildfire smoke and threats of extreme heat. Those in charge are threatening to close ORD. This would be nothing short of hazardous.
Today, as climate warming is creating the conditions for longer, more intense wildfire seasons, particle pollution from wildfire smoke is now a frequent threat to our clean air. In fact, exposure to unhealthy levels of smoke are the reason the American Lung Association gives Missoula a failing grade for air quality.
The road to regulating climate-polluting greenhouse gases has been slow and marked by setbacks and court challenges, but under the Biden administration, it was headed in the right direction. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, with its historic investments in local communities and emphasis on environmental justice, promised to move us further and faster.
The Trump regime seems intent on sending us spinning back the wrong way. Make no mistake – this is about greasing the wheels for oil and gas corporations at the expense of communities and families. An analysis by the Environmental Protection Network puts the cost in stark terms:
“…the rules Zeldin plans to roll back were projected to deliver at least $254 billion in annual economic benefits, primarily by reducing healthcare costs, preventing illnesses and avoiding premature deaths. Now, for every million dollars in favors handed to corporate polluters, the American public will suffer an estimated $6 million in health-related costs, including increased rates of asthma, cancer, heart disease and respiratory illnesses. The consequences of these rollbacks will disproportionately harm vulnerable communities, exacerbating existing health inequities and accelerating environmental degradation at a time when climate disasters are becoming more frequent and severe.”
It’s enough to make you furious. This kind of attack on the very foundations of a healthy society and planet is shocking - though given Trump’s and Zeldin’s track record of pandering to fossil fuel corporations, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
We won’t return to the days of filth and smog. Our communities – and the generations to come – deserve so much better.
So what can we do?
Recently a group of current and former employees of the EPA published an open letter from EPA staff to the American public (a must read!) asking us, the public, to hold this administration accountable. Let’s support their calls to action.
Executive orders do not supersede laws passed by Congress; IRA funds supporting communities across the U.S. must be honored. (Curious what kinds of amazing projects this funding has gone towards? Check out EPA environment justice grants via this map.)
Let’s call our federal delegation – Senators Sheehy and Daines and Representative Zinke – and tell them not to sell out our health and clean air and water to fossil fuel executives. Write letters to the editor. Tell your friends. Show up at town halls and protests (like the April 5 national “Hands Off” day of action). Keep at it.
And let’s not forget, the antidote to authoritarianism is strong, connected communities. There are plenty of those community-building opportunities coming up, from myriad Earth Month events to our April 29 Climate Ambassador Training, where we’ll equip you with the resources and confidence to be a messenger for tangible local climate solutions. Join us!
Over the last decade (!) since Climate Smart Missoula’s inception, we’ve found it helpful to think about building a climate safe future like climbing a mountain. Find a path that works for you and take one step at a time. (And it’s more fun with friends.) We’re here, and we’ll keep doing our part to make progress and cheer our community on up the trail, even if it seems a little steeper right now. Breathing deeply in today’s clean air.
Abby Huseth is the Deputy Director and Amy Cilimburg is the Executive Director at Climate Smart Missoula. Climate Smart Missoula brings this Climate Connections column to you twice per month. Learn more about our work, support our efforts, and sign up for our e-newsletter at missoulaclimate.org.