Chatting recently with my sister-in-law, we lamented several losses under Trump-era policies: reproductive rights, nutrition aid for children, programs for people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ protections, dismantling DEI efforts in schools and workplaces, to name a handful. But the conversation circled back to one existential threat: the environment.

We agreed that environmental destruction is the most dangerous legacy we’re facing and realized something sobering: not even Trump’s own children are immune to long-term effects of a scorched Earth, rising seas or poisoned water. Then we snapped back to reality — yes, they actually are immune. They can afford to be.

Need a multimillion-dollar bunker? No problem. State-of-the-art water filtration systems? Done. Decades’ worth of food for our inner circle? Sure thing. But most of us, probably those reading this, can’t buy our way out of climate collapse.

In 2025, dozens of environmental protections were rolled back or reversed. Methane emission limits were relaxed, protections for water under the Clean Water Act were stripped, enforcement of regulations on polluters was weakened and the Endangered Species Act was pummeled. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the forests we walk through and the wildlife we love are under attack and once gone, they’re gone forever.

Few people on the planet will be able to buy their way out of an ecological disaster. We have a choice: build multimillion-dollar shelters for some or protect everyone from the causes of climate change while there is still time.

Nicole Petit Wiesendanger
South Portland