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Wiping climate change out
When did climate change become so political? Once, it was simply a topic for concerned scientists and Greenpeace activists – something happening to our oceans and distant glaciers. But times, just like the climate, have changed.
Climate policy has since become the latest weapon in the armoury of the world’s most powerful. Now, it is being wielded with particular force by the Trump administration.
The latest blow brings the potential stripping of tax-exempt status from climate charities in the US, like Cool Earth, a move that would devastate the charitable sector.
Trump is now attacking climate change charities like ours. Credit: The New Yorker
What Does This Mean?
If the 501(c)3 status is revoked for climate charities, like Trump threatens, the consequences will be severe.
It would mean that donors in America will no longer get a tax benefit for donating to charities. Stripping charities of the ability to fundraise. If that happens, where does the money to do our important work come from?
We are already stretched. Philanthropic organisations cannot fill the gap left by recent government withdrawals from climate action and the dismantling of USAID.
Not only this, there will be a direct impact on people’s lives. Mostly those who are already affected by the climate crisis. Often the world’s most vulnerable, which is exactly why we back those living in rainforests.
It feels like this isn’t just about climate change anymore. It’s about whether we allow governments to use tax status as a weapon against causes they dislike because it doesn’t directly benefit their rich friends. Sadly this is a tale as old as time.
Climate action has always faced opposition, but targeting the charitable status of organisations simply for acknowledging scientific reality sets a dangerous precedent.
Indigenous communities are already on the front lines of the climate crisis, facing extreme weather like this flooding that happened recently, destroying their community.
The Divide
Climate change has transformed from a collaborative global challenge into a divisive political wedge. This political polarisation is precisely what we don’t need when tackling the world’s most pressing problems.
Climate change is something that will affect us all.
Add in social media’s amplification of misinformation and controversial political leadership, and we face nothing short of a climate war. Climate communication itself has become contested territory, even Cool Earth is having its content suppressed on platforms like Meta.
When will this censorship end? When will truth prevail?
Cool Earth will continue sharing the truth about climate science and amplifying the voices of forest communities who are making a real difference.
The science couldn’t be clearer. Climate change is here and it is happening now. It doesn’t care about your politics, wealth or status.
When the environment collapses it will be a fate that no one can escape. Not even POTUS.
This attack on climate charities puts our work at risk. Work like supporting this rainforest community, Waduada, in Papua New Guinea.
Perhaps the real tragedy is that while we’re busy fighting climate and culture wars, the planet continues to heat beyond repair. Biodiversity and rainforests are being decimated. People are dying.