As a college town and scientific community, Pullman students, faculty and residents need to organize and express their outrage toward the Trump Administration’s proposed budget, which slashes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other organizations like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The proposed “America First” budget would cut the EPA’s funding by 31 percent, which would result in the loss of 3,200 EPA positions, and hacks off $26 million (a 93 percent cut) used to support the Puget Sound estuary, which brings in 80 percent of the state’s tourism dollars and employs thousands of people.

To add insult to injury, the budget blueprint uses the statements of “significant costs for workers and consumers without justifiable environmental benefit” and the “safety of our people” as reasoning behind the massive cuts.

Meanwhile, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has confirmed that human activities that influence global warming will reduce water supplies, allow a significant rise in sea level and acidity, increase the number of wildfires and facilitate erosion. These changes present serious risks to the safety of Americans and our infrastructure.

Insect outbreaks, tree disease, drought and heat waves will continue causing widespread agricultural devastation, and stronger hurricanes will cause more deaths and millions of dollars in damage.

Our government is actively encouraging disregard for the safety of our future generations.

Frankly, it is infuriating that our president actually believes that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

The mental gymnastics required to believe such absurd and blatantly false claims are quite honestly difficult to comprehend considering there is a 97-percent consensus by the scientific community that human activities are modifying the concentration of our atmosphere.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations Environmental Programme and various international governments recognize the threat that climate change presents to our future.

As Americans, we absolutely cannot allow our government to continue orchestrating this negligence.

The WSU School of the Environment website affirms the department’s commitment to “provide environmental education and sustainability outreach to learners of all ages.”

Why has the School of the Environment not even attempted to disseminate information regarding the tangible dangers of Trump’s budget?

In 2007, a group of WSU researchers received a $900,000 EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant to look at the impacts of global climate change on regional air quality in the U.S.

Just last year, a WSU student team was awarded a People, Prosperity and Planet grant award of up to $15,000 to develop sustainability projects to improve energy conservation and wildfire resistance.

Make no mistake, this kind of research and project support from the EPA will dry up if Trump’s budget is approved.

Katherine Mary Meyer, a staff member with the WSU International Programs Office with a bachelor’s in political science and a master’s in cross-cultural communication, is taking action to oppose the current administration’s denial of science by organizing a March for Science in Pullman and Moscow on Saturday, alongside other marches across the country.

“I think to not realize that in the long-term, this could jeopardize jobs, research, funding — it’s worth being vocal about,” she said. “People should be aware that things in the Palouse will change if there are budget cuts and a lack of funding for science and environmental education programs.”

It’s apparent that our new administration doesn’t care about the world we’re going to inherit, but that shouldn’t stop us from showing that we care.

Josh Maasberg is a sophomore political science major from Murrieta, California. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of The Office of Student Media.