Project 2025 came from one of Washington’s most known right-wing think tanks – the Heritage Foundation. They have been creating policy plans for Republican administrations since 1981, back when Reagan was about to enter office.
A more in-depth look at Project 2025 can be found here – essentially, it lists policy plans to further presidential power and build a very conservative social ideal in an 887-page document.
President-elect, Donald Trump, has pushed away from Project 2025. He has stated that he doesn’t agree with some of the “absolutely ridiculous and abysmal” things it contains, while also claiming that he has no knowledge about it. Yet, many of the team behind the project were former Trump advisors. Due to this, Project 2025 coming to fruition is a very real fear to have.
The project covers many things, shining an ultra-Republican light on issues such as abortion, immigration, education, and the control of the government. Climate and economy have a place in the document, a place that spits harmful ideas of what we should do to our planet into the ears of hyper-Republican listeners.
Project 2025 and the Environment
One plan the document lists is to cut government funding for research regarding renewable energy. Project 2025 wants to “stop the war on oil and natural gas”, a message that, if received by Trump, will have a devastating outcome on our planet.
The finite source of fossil fuels will eventually diminish – if their usage doesn’t overheat the planet first. Using oil and natural gases for energy has created a blanket of CO2 and other global warming emissions in our atmosphere. This blanket traps heat in our and contributes to the increasing power of storms, droughts, and rising sea levels.
News of such a plan has sparked an ongoing fear in those with eco-anxiety. The memories of Hurricane Milton and the predicted damage it could’ve done are still fresh in peoples’ minds. Luckily, Milton was not as catastrophic as we expected it to be. Yet, among its physical damage, Milton has chipped away at the already crumbling resolves of those with eco-anxiety.
Wildfires, natural disasters, storms – we see these reported on the news more often as technology develops. Alongside reports, sometimes, is fearmongering – dramatic accounts of worst-case scenarios broadcast to the public.
Now, Project 2025 threatens to tip eco-anxiety over the edge. If it comes to fruition, then real repercussions will be seen throughout our planet. For years, activists have been pushing towards renewable energy sources, and Project 2025 will crush their work, sticking us back at square one while the world continues to heat up.
So, of course, this is a scary thought – even more so for climate change worriers. A lot is happening right now in America but outside of it too as Project 2025 will affect the world.
It seems like an impossibly dark time is rounding the corner, ready to leap on us, but all we can do is try to remain positive and continue to fight for renewable energy.
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Fourth year student journalist studying Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Journalism Studies.
Words at Brig, The Daily Evergreen, Alloa Advertiser, Discovery Music Scotland, and The Mourning Paper.
