All posts tagged: endangerment finding

The EPA turns its back on the Earth and on public health

The EPA turns its back on the Earth and on public health

(RNS) — Every year on Tu Bishvat, Jewish communities celebrate a new year for the trees and rededicate themselves to the work of being caretakers for the planet that sustains us. The holiday, which we will mark this year from Feb. 1-2, is typically celebrated by hosting a Tu Bishvat seder, or festive meal, in which we enjoy various tree fruits and nuts. The holiday is also an opportunity to honor our relationship to the natural world — our place alongside the air, water, food and ecosystems that sustain all life, physically and spiritually.  This year, the Trump administration is threatening that relationship like never before. The Environmental Protection Agency, led by its first-ever Jewish administrator, Lee Zeldin, is planning to repeal a landmark determination that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. The Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, issued in 2009, has been upheld by every administration since and forms the legal basis for the federal government to regulate greenhouse gases.  The decision to repeal it has no scientific rationale. It is …