As a response to an increased unemployment rate in the United States, President Donald Trump has issued an executive order towards the EPA as of March 28, rewriting the regulations issued in 2015 by former President Barack Obama that limits the greenhouse gas emissions coming out of existing power plants. Even though Trump believes this order will lead to more jobs, his ignorance to the true problem that must be dealt with, climate change, will lead to the slow but sure erosion of our planet.

As the restrictions have been lifted, Trump believes these regulation stretches will open a window for more jobs and better the economy, as the regulations can be strenuous to production companies. If these restrictions are lifted, companies will be able to extend the amount of revenue they are allowed to produce, therefore opening up more jobs and increasing productivity. In a small light without consequence, it may seem like a positive for a country that has an issue with unemployment. But there is a reason the regulations were in place, and they are to protect our country from issues much worse than unemployment.

What Trump does not believe is the true intensity and truth behind climate change; and that “job killing” regulations are preventing the killing of our earth. Trump is sliding around factual evidence and only focusing on an employment problem much smaller than the issues climate change will cause. How can jobs in the United States sustain when the world is slowly capsizing in on itself? Not metaphorically, literally. And there is factual proof.

Here is just the basic yet indubitable factual evidence for the “fake news” that is climate change, proven by multiple reputable sources.

NASA Global Climate Change experts have conducted research on climate change and provided these simple and irrefutable statements:

• Global sea level rose about 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) in the last century. The rate in the last decade, however, is nearly double that of the last century.
• All three major global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880.
• the top 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) of ocean showing warming of 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.
• The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass.
• Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.
• Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.
• Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent.
• Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier.
• Data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice per year between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometers (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005.

These events may seem out of the ordinary, but they define global warming and are the catalyst to predicted and highly possible consequences if we do not work to decrease the cause of global warming; carbon gas and fossil fuel emissions, which is the exact thing that President Donald Trump is letting overrun our atmosphere.

These consequences are shocking and quite possible. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), drastic global temperature changes, droughts and flooding are just some of the intense affects climate change will cause. And these consequences have rippling effects. For example, just with global temperatures rising, coral reefs will begin to erode due to PH balance, leaving fish with no food or sustainability sources. This leads to the death of fish species in the ocean, which half a billion people on the planet rely on for their main source of protein.

WWF states that by “2050 just 5 percent of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the world’s largest coral reef – will remain.”

Another example of this is the Arctic, which according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, warming temperatures have shown to be an increase of seven degrees fahrenheit. The NSIDC researchers find concern in this increase “because when the white sea ice melts in summer, areas of dark open water are exposed which can absorb more heat from the sun. That extra heat then helps melt even more ice,” causing a further imbalance in global temperatures and rise in water levels. This rise can lead to increased flooding, and land erosion.

And it is only a matter of time.

If unquestionable facts stated plainly is not enough to convince, there is physical proof that global warming’s time is not years from now, but now, affecting people on our planet already. In fact, a whole culture in Alaska has already been affected by global warming and steadily rising increases in temperature. According to CNN, a village called Shishmaref is seeing climate change first hand. Due to the rising temperature increase, the land from underneath their homes has begun to melt and erode, causing their houses to fall into the water below.

According to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EFJ), over 27 million people a year and over 150 million people in all so far have shared a similar fate and have become “climate refugees,” forced to move due to climate change and floods overpowering their homes.

Essentially what Trump is doing is fighting the battle, when the war is what he should be concerned with- a war for planet Earth.

It is easy to feel helpless in a situation that seems to be controlled by a stronger power such as the president, but it is possible to motivate change. Not only is it possible, but it is essential, in order to save our earth. As an individual, one can donate to the Climate Justice Foundation to help support climate refugees and advocate for actions to support our earth.

Even each day, people can reduce the impact they have on carbon emissions and fossil fuels by biking or walking instead of driving, reducing overall energy use, conserving water (with or without a drought), recycling or even planting plants to help make our world a little greener.

Finally, one can make an impact by reaching out and influencing local legislators to fight this executive order from becoming permanent or fighting any other political steps Trump could make to speed the erosion of our planet.

This cause can not be ignored, or seen as “fake news.” Because it is proven not only by statistical evidence, but seen by the struggles of over 150 million people. As a country, we are taking steps backward from saving our planet, and exploiting our resources blindly to the highest degree of ignorance. Individuals need to stop ignoring factual evidence and start promoting change.

by RACHEL MARQUARDT