12.Feb.2026
By Patricia M. DeMarco
This year has seen so many long days of cold harsh reality crashing through the optimism and hope of the last two years. From the vision from ReImagine Appalachia to the many responses to the Community Change grants and the burst of enthusiasm for what was supposed to be a stable ten -year commitment to renewable energy support all had the rug pulled out from under them. The Trump flurry of Executive Orders, rescissions and retractions of approved funds, even grants under contract has sent shock waves through one community after another. The deliberate cruelty with which federal assistance for disasters has been withheld or retracted, sometimes based on partisan vindictiveness, stands with little challenge. Now comes the gleeful revoking of the Endangerment Finding that supported EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and point source pollution from power plants, factories and fossil extractive industries.[1]We are numb. Stunned into a shocked silence.
Well, the time for stunned inaction is over. The America built on immigrant blood, sweat and tears, the America striving toward shared prosperity and a more just, equitable and inclusive future, the America of hope, compassion and joy must rise up again. We who believe in a government of the People, by the People and FOR THE PEOPLE must stand up and take back what is good and right as our responsibility and our duty. We know that the science supporting the need to control greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels gives a short and closing window of timing for effective action.
This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial Revolution.
Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record. Find out more about ice cores (external site).
We dare to believe that excellent education for all makes stronger citizens and a stronger economy. We insist that the health and well-being of all people depend on access to health care for everyone. We know that to have healthy people we depend on clean water, fresh air and fertile ground as well as the vast number of species that provide our life support system. It is our duty to protect and strengthen the laws and regulations that control and prevent the massive pollution that has become the hallmark of modern civilization. It is time for an effective national law on Climate Change.
No longer can we tolerate sweeping the climate issue to the side, whispering about it in closed enclaves. We must no longer tallow climate action to be disparaged as “woke” or succumbing to the “Climate is a hoax” dogma issuing from Trump and his minions. The fossil industries who bought this President are bringing down our entire civilization.[2]These multi-national corporations have allegiance to no country, and certainly see no value in preserving humanity or any part of the natural world. Next quarter profits are their only metric. And if we look to the fate of our grandchildren, twenty years hence, the corporations do not care. They have no children. They do not breathe air or drink fresh water. They do not bleed in war. They do not get illnesses from their filthy enterprises. The stock market is soaring. The GDP is fine, what is our problem?
We need to focus on the fundamental systems that support a better future for all of us. That means we must address the unjust and skewed wealth distribution in our country. It is not a viable situation for the top 1% of people to control 86% of the wealth while the lowest 50% control less than 15%.[3] The frozen federal minimum wage at $7.25/hour combined with a systematic attack on unions and worker organizing has killed the middle class.[4] The Tax Reform Act of 1986 under Ronald Regan and the “Big Beautiful Budget Bill” of Trump have combined to increase the disparity in wealth distribution. Money is the heart of this evil. Unfettered capitalism feeds greed. And greed kills. Policies that demonize equity, inclusion, immigrants, and dignity to any outside the cult of wealth are destroying the best of what made America a great country. Now ripping away the Endangerment Finding assures the destruction of our life support system:clean air, safe drinking water, fertile ground and the millions of species that constitute the great Web of Life, of which humans are but one part.
Climate must be on the agenda for the Mid-term Elections. Rescinding the Endangerment Finding does not rescind the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the climate. It just cuts out the ability of our government to move in a more positive and healthy direction. We can thrive without fossil fuels. But we cannot even survive in a planet warmed above the range of viability for all living things…including humans. We cannot have healthy, thriving people without a healthy thriving environment. We are facing our own extinction. It is time to ACT!
Adopt a National Energy Act for Climate Resilience. We must recognize that the energy system is in the midst of a critically necessary transformation away from a fossil resource -based system that moves from extraction to production to trash. The renewable resource based, circular materials and energy management system is emerging worldwide, in spite of all U.S. efforts to stifle its progress. We must boldly examine the regulatory infrastructure that can support a distributed energy system and a circular materials management system. The laws and regulations governing utilities are designed for one way flow of power from central power stations to customers distant and connected by wires. The emerging energy system is based on renewable resources. A distributed energy system accommodates multiple sources of electricity generation from net zero buildings that sometimes produce more energy than they need to microgrids linked with long duration battery storage systems and interconnected with load management software that balances loads and resources. Customers generate some or all of their own power, from solar PV on their roofs and car batteries in their garages, and utilities struggle to accommodate two-way flows. Many large customers can also generate all of their own power with dedicated systems linked to their unique demands, and drop out of the grid altogether. We need to examine an update to the laws and regulations governing the production and exchange of power to address the reality of a shifting energy system. A distributed energy system powered by renewable resources can sustain a better future. We need a regulatory infrastructure that enables this transformation in law.
The laws of nature are not negotiable. As we increase the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the planet will continue to warm. That is just physics. Trump may try to erase Black History. He has reversed decades of policy supporting immigration as America the melting pot. He has re-aligned alliances and trade agreements. He can eliminate public education and limit health care and benefits. BUT he has no power to change the laws of atmospheric physics and chemistry. He has no power to control the response of living systems, including humans, to changes in the environment. He has no power to re-write the laws of Nature. We ignore these at our peril.
It is time to put our life support system on the agenda. It is time to protect our world for our children. We can live without luxury cars. We can live without plastics. We can live without gilded buildings. We cannot live without oxygen-rich fresh air, or clean water, or fertile ground that provides food. We cannot live without compassion and empathy for each other in communities of caring people. We cannot live without the ecosystems that support life on earth.
Endnotes and Resources:
[1] Environmental Protection Agency. President Trump and Administrator Zeldin Deliver Single Largest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History:Trump Admin Eliminates Obama-Era Endangerment Finding, off-cycle credits, start-stop feature. Feb 12, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/president-trump-and-administrator-zeldin-deliver-single-largest-deregulatory-action-us Accessed Feb 12, 2026.
[2] Dharna Noor. “Big oil spent $445m in last election cycle to influence Trump and Congress, report says.” The Guardian. 23 Jan 2025.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/big-oil-445m-trump-congress Accessed Feb 12, 2026.
[3] Urban Institute calculations from the Survey of Financial Characteristics of Consumers 1962, the Survey of Changes in Family Finances 1963, and the Survey of Consumer Finances 1983–2022. Urban Institute. April 25, 2024. https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/
[4] Mills Rodrigo. “America’s Wealthiest Are Getting Even Richer.” Inequality.org. January 31, 2026. https://inequality.org/facts/wealth-inequality/ Accessed Feb. 12, 2026.
Patricia DeMarco Ph.D. 