The working class is being handed a poisoned chalice once again. On this very day, the Trump administration has moved to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 endangerment finding—a scientific determination that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. This is not merely a policy shift; it is a naked assault on the very foundations of the working class’s right to breathe clean air and drink uncontaminated water.
The endangerment finding, which has served as the legal and scientific basis for federal regulations on carbon emissions from power plants, vehicles, and industrial facilities, has been the cornerstone of U.S. climate policy for over a decade. Its repeal means that the capitalist class can once again dump unlimited quantities of toxic gases into the atmosphere without fear of federal intervention. The ruling class, in its insatiable hunger for profit, has decided that the health and lives of the working class are expendable collateral damage in the pursuit of ever-greater accumulation.
What does this mean for the proletariat? It means that the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil that sustains our food will be further degraded by the relentless drive for profit. The working class, already burdened by wage stagnation, precarious employment, and the erosion of social protections, will bear the brunt of this environmental degradation. The capitalist class, through its political representatives, has chosen to prioritize the short-term interests of fossil fuel corporations over the long-term survival of the working class and the planet itself.
This move is part of a broader pattern of capitalist governments undermining scientific evidence and public health in service of corporate interests. The rollback of the endangerment finding is not an isolated event; it is the latest in a series of attacks on workers’ rights, environmental protections, and democratic institutions. The ruling class, in its desperate attempt to maintain its dominance, is willing to sacrifice the very conditions that make life possible for the working class.
The working class must recognize that this is a class struggle. The repeal of the endangerment finding is not a neutral policy decision; it is a deliberate choice by the capitalist class to protect its profits at the expense of workers’ health and the planet’s future. The proletariat must unite in defense of its right to a healthy environment, to clean air and water, and to a future free from the ravages of climate change. Only through collective action, through the organization of workers and the oppressed, can we challenge the capitalist class and its policies that threaten our very existence.
The struggle for environmental justice is inseparable from the struggle for socialism. The capitalist system, with its inherent drive for profit, cannot be reformed to address the climate crisis. Only a socialist transformation of society, with the working class in control of production and the means of distribution, can ensure that the environment is protected for the benefit of all, not just the privileged few. The repeal of the endangerment finding is a stark reminder of the need for revolutionary change.