You Know What Impresses Me More Than That Smile of Yours, Mr. President-Elect? Your Unstoppable Energy!

As one of the millions who believe in you, Donald J. Trump, who voted for you, who respects you, I want you to reconsider that which you have such an abundance of yourself and now is in your capable hands, energy--the world’s energy!

Planetary Lifeguard, a character I created to blow the whistle on climate change, does not approve of the hateful headlines some of your strongest critics and detractors are writing, such as “Trump Wins, Planet Loses.”

Branding you a “climate denier,” they’re predicting that once you resume your place on the throne of power, you will upend U.S. climate policy, which is making my Planetary Lifeguard a nervous wreck as he’s seeing the catastrophic effects of global warming for which I created him to blow his whistle.

They’re saying that with one stroke of the pen, you will give climate change a free mandate to keep warming our planet globally as much as the fossil fuel industry wants to enrich itself along with those who support it.

Still, I have faith in you, Mr. President-elect.

When you once again sit on that seat of power in DC, I have faith that you’ll see yourself not as an emperor but as a President respectful of our Democracy, our Constitution and the millions of poor and middle-class citizens who voted for you. 

You will listen not just to those who are wealthy and powerful speaking for their own self-interest, but to those who speak for the common good, a big part which is dependent on our climate. Yes, make America energy independent again, but do it wisely and as you do so many other things, smartly!

As President you will also listen more carefully to that overwhelming majority of climate scientists warning that fossil fuels are warming our planet with cataclysmic consequences, making winds blow measurably faster causing more death, destruction and homelessness not far from where you live in what will once again be your Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago.

Show them! 

Mr. President-elect, please show those scientists who believe you fail or prefer not to see the disastrous effects of climate change that they’re mistaken, and that you have an open mind, which you can change based on facts you won’t hide from.

Tell them they’ve got you pegged wrong, that your mind is open to concrete evidence and that you’ll respect judgments based on true, undeniable evidence supplied by reliable sources.

Republicans like me also gave control of the House and Senate laying the groundwork for attacks on clean energy funding and bolstering support for your allies in the fossil fuel industry. But please don’t let us down. Remain open to assessing what science is shouting from rooftops about the perils of global warming.

Liquid gold?

“We have more liquid gold than any country in the world,” you said during your victory speech, referring to domestic oil and gas potential. The CEO of the American Petroleum Institute issued a statement saying that “energy was on the ballot, and voters sent a clear signal that they want choices, not mandates.”  And I agree.

Yet the election results also rattled climate policy experts and environmental advocates compounded by your calling climate change “a hoax” and vowing to expand fossil fuel production, roll back environmental regulations and eliminate federal support for clean energy.  But I’m hoping that was partly an election campaign talking point and that you’ll keep what’s so missing in politics these days--an open mind. 

You said you would scuttle the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in climate action in U.S. history. 

I hope you’ll reconsider that such steps could add billions of tons of additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. And would they not hasten the looming impacts of climate change?

An open mind

Can you please tell those who point to your withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and who say your first term was a disaster for climate progress that you have an open mind. 

Maybe now that you’re so friendly with Elon Musk you’ll keep funds flowing into such initiatives as building out the nation’s electric vehicle charging network. Maybe you’ll also inspire people to keep weatherizing their homes by going solar. 

We know how fond you were of saying “drill baby drill” but now, how about saying “chill baby chill” on that gung-ho fossil fuelish rhetoric until our renewable energy at least catches up to ameliorating our climate?

That’s the leadership prowess I have a hunch is behind that disarming smile, the IQ that resides deep inside that magnificent brain of yours that knows how to stop when it sees red lights. 

Right now, our climate is showing red lights on overproducing and expanding gas and oil drilling and refining. 

So maybe now Mr. President-elect perhaps instead of drill-baby-drill, it’s time to “listen baby listen.”

Listen to what science is saying before the next round of ferocious cat-5 hurricanes and tornadoes come knocking at our respective doors, where I live nearby on the oceanfront in Boca Raton, not far from your stately Mar-a-Lago. 

Tom Madden is a prolific writer, blogger and author of many books including his latest, Planetary Lifeguard, Blowing the Whistle on Climate Change.  When he’s not writing books or blowing whistles, Madden is running TransMedia Group, the PR firm he started when he left NBC, where he was VP, Assistant to the President. And unless you have a weak stomach, don’t miss his weekly blog at www.maddenmischief.com.