An Open Letter to President Trump, RE: The Paris Agreement

Dear Mr. President,

American Sportsmen and Women are tired of seeing hoot-owl closures on their rivers. We're tired of fish kills caused by extreme water temperature. We're tired of seeing our forests killed by beetles because our winters are not getting cold enough and our summers are hotter. We're tired of ocean conditions making salmon survival even more difficult. We're tired of longer, hotter forest fire seasons. Sportspeople are out in the wild parts of our great country more often than most, and we are seeing the effects of climate change on a daily basis. The sporting way of life is in danger as a direct result of the warming earth, and you just withdrew us from the Paris Agreement.

Mr. President, you (and your son) have said how you want to protect the rights of sportsmen and women, second amendment rights and land usage rights and so on, but none of that matters if we don't have fish and game to pursue. If the environment goes, the game goes, and we will follow shortly after. Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement, massively defunding the EPA, promoting coal, all of your actions are painting a picture that says you don't actually care about hunters and anglers or the environments we love. Your choices are placing our way of life in jeopardy, and that is unacceptable.

In pulling out of the Paris agreement, you said American jobs would benefit. I will take this moment to remind you that there are industries in America that depend on healthy ecosystems. Commercial fishing, hunting and fishing guides, the stores that supply all these hunters and anglers with their gear, this is not a small issue. Here in Wyoming, tourists come from all over the world to experience our outstanding trout fishing, our fantastic hunting, and our incredible geology. This tourism supports hotels, restaurants, gas stations, ski lodges, entire communities depend on healthy rivers and forests. If we don't start acting seriously on climate change, we'll need to find new jobs for millions of people.

You are the proverbial bull in a china shop when it comes to our wild spaces. Any hunter or angler who continues to believe that you have their best interests at heart is foolish. You continue to ignore the scientific consensus on climate change, you continue to put policies in place that will damn our air and water to more and more pollution, you continue to show that you just don't give a shit about people who love the outdoors.

There are many of us who live for wild, open spaces, and we are angry at the road you're leading us down. There is still time for you to change, Mr. President. You have the opportunity to lead the world to a greener future, and I recommend you start soon. If not, you'll be facing a lot of hunters, anglers, hikers, skiers, campers, boarders, and climbers that will fight tooth and nail to save the outdoors. Your call.