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Mother Earth provides every material for our survival, so why do we accept corporate promises to adopt healthy environmental solutions? We know that those promises are little more than subterfuge — after all, astronauts have reported seeing pollution events so large they’ve been spotted from space. We need to change the collective mindset that accepts fake research and claims from the world’s biggest polluters.
No longer should top corporate air and water polluters and top greenhouse gas emitters have immunity from laws or lawsuits that aim to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis. Instead, we should protect, restore, and celebrate Planet Earth, even if that means the difficult task of standing up to the most powerful forces in society.
After all, the 25 biggest corporate polluters in history are responsible for emitting almost 700 GtCO₂e into the atmosphere since 1854.
Everything humans require to live and flourish is imparted by the natural: food, water, medicine, materials for shelter, and the natural cycles of climate and nutrients. Yet China, the US, and India promote fossil fuels at every turn, and fossil fuels pollute at every stage of their life cycle: from getting them out of the ground, to transporting them, to burning them.
It’s the stark truth, yet nearly every single person in the western world is beholden to Big Oil, which has more consumption than ever due to data center growth.
But the pattern of pollution is not hopeless. In fact, political analyst Chris Armitage argues, “A propaganda apparatus built on billions of dollars, cable networks, and algorithmic feeds can be defeated by people talking face to face, and there is something uniquely beautiful in the fact that this very human thing still has so much power.”
We can take those insights and apply them to a new mindset to the planet. If, as he explains, psychological operations at the highest political levels work by repeating a claim at a population “until it stops sounding strange,” why can’t we apply the same approach to sound environmental actions? “It is free, it is legal,” Armitage continues, “and you can do it from your couch to the politician who is supposed to work for you.”
Where does a new mindset about the planet start?
Begin with the Billionaires: Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman describes how wealth at the top is, “to a significant extent, coming at the expense of American workers.” The share of national income going to workers is at an 80-year low. Citizens United “opened the door for the all too numerous predatory billionaires” to gain more political power and expand financial regulations further in their favor.
“Want to pollute air and water? Want your anti-competitive merger approved?” Krugman muses. “Want a big tax cut that benefits the billionaire class while stripping ordering people of their healthcare? Want to eliminate financial regulation so that you can play games with and siphon off other people’s money? No problem on all those counts.”
Global growth has resulted in significant damage to the natural world, and it’s an odd conundrum: global businesses depend on nature for key raw materials and critical services such as pollination and water filtration, but the same businesses are destroying the environment as they produce and transport goods. We must make transparent how billionaires like Elon Musk are reimagining human life on Earth.
Oil companies must clean up their pollution: Funded through the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment settlement, a project aims to reduce threats posed by marine debris to birds and sea turtles injured by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill across the Gulf coast. Efforts are underway to reduce marine debris impacts on Gulf coast wildlife and habitats.
During the first year of on-the-ground implementation, Trustees collectively removed 70,623 pounds of land-based debris and 32,541 pounds of ocean-based debris during cleanup events. Such efforts should be duplicated anywhere that Big Oil has polluted the planet.
Chemicals need to be reined in, not excused: Pyrolysisunits – which heat plastics waste at up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit – will no longer be categorized as incinerators under the Clean Air Act if the Trump administration has its way. They would not be required to meet limits for cancer-causing air pollution like dioxins and cadmium, neurotoxins like lead and mercury, and other conventional air pollutants including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter.
The current regulations, which define pyrolysis units as incinerators, have been in place for more than 30 years. Call your legislator — explain in simple terms why these regs must stay in place.
Accountability for climate change: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is a nongovernmental institution that advises American society on matters of science and technology. Its recent reports on climate science have not moved in step with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle climate research, erase climate regulation and halt offshore wind energy projects.
Governments need to hold oil, gas and coal companies responsible for the damage caused by extreme weather. Already attribution findings are seen as relevant in several types of legal cases.
Returning rivers, streams, and the oceans: Restoration programs need continued funding for projects that are vital to securing healthy rivers and pristine lands. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the US Department of the Interior intended to implement more than $2 billion in investments to restore our nation’s lands and waters and advance the America the Beautiful initiative. The Biden-Harris administration’s goal was to restore and conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030. (Note: The America the Beautiful initiative website has been taken down by the Trump 2.0 administration.)
We should listen to scientist Sylvia Earle, who makes an urgent call to push world leaders to achieve the 30×30 goal. The most efficacious way to do so, she says, is by designating marine protected areas (MPAs). To understand this need, “Think like a fish,” Earle suggests. “The future of the ocean — our planet — is in our hands.”
Vote! Why don’t we listen more closely to climate activists who explain how clean energy sources must be our future? They don’t pollute your community or the planet. Robert Reich reminds us in his Substack that “you and I and every other patriotic American have to do whatever we can to ensure free and fair elections.”
We can make a real dent with our ballot to fight climate change through leaders who support technological means like electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions.
References
“Cumulative operational and product emissions from the largest carbon producers worldwide from 1854 to 2023.” Statistica.
“Democracy in an age of powermaxxing. The billionaire backlash has finally arrived. But is it too late?” Paul Krugman. Substack. July 16, 2026.
“Republicans introduce legislation to give fossil fuel companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits seeking to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis.” Center for Climate Integrity. April 17, 2026.
“Setting money on fire: (Also the planet).” Bill McKibben. The Crucial Years. July 15, 2026.
“The real message of Trump’s address to the nation. We are facing the biggest test of our democracy since the Civil War.” Robert Reich. Substack. Jul 16, 2026.
“The undervalued quality-of-life benefits of demand-side energy and climate strategies.” Grubler A. et al. Communications Sustainability. 2026.
“Top science panel backs research linking extreme weather to climate change.” Raymond Zhong. New York Times. July 16, 2026.
“Trump administration proposes weakening pollution rules for the chemical plastics ‘recycling’ industry.” Ari Phillips. Oil & Gas Watch. July 16, 2026.
“Trump can’t get no respect. His biggest lie wasn’t about elections.” Paul Krugman. Substack. July 17, 2026.
“Trustees remove over 100,000 pounds of marine debris across the Gulf.” Gulf Spill Restoration by NOAA. July 16, 2026.
“What nature gives us.” Earthwise Aware.
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