How Bad Is Project 2025's Environmental Policy, Really? — Plus, How To Safeguard Climate Progress

Imagine a future where the Environmental Protection Agency is stripped of its power, climate change dismissed as a non-issue, and excessive carbon dioxide celebrated as a life-giving nutrient. This isn't the plot of a dystopian novel – it's the vision laid out in Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for reshaping America's environmental policy. As the 2024 election looms, this radical reimagining of our approach to climate and environmental protection demands our attention. Just how bad is Project 2025's environmental policy? What can we do to safeguard the climate progress we've made, and what kind of psychological maneuvers are at play?

To understand the potential environmental impact of Project 2025, we need to look at the key figures behind it, starting with Mandy M. Gunasekara, the author of that document's environmental policy. As a Republican strategist who joined the EPA in 2020 to achieve the Trump administration's goals regarding climate and environment, Gunasekara previously led the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, where she wrote regulations easing pollution controls on coal-fired power plants and lowered standards on vehicle emissions. Also among her list of accomplishments: encouraging the Trump administration to leave the Paris climate accord, and creating the now-archived Energy45, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting Trump's Energy Agenda.

In a 2020 interview with the Washington Examiner, Gunasekara said that climate change isn't catastrophic, "but it's very important, and we will continue to address [it] through pragmatism."

At one point, Gunasekara was a member of the CO2 Coalition, a group led by climate change denier William Happer that says carbon dioxide is a "nutrient vital for life" and that more of it should be in our atmosphere. The CO2 Coalition even created a chart suggesting that we're enduring "dangerously decreasing" levels of atmospheric CO2. Top donors to the CO2 Coalition include the usual gathering of right-wing billionaires (Charles Koch Institute) and corporations with energy interests, like EOG Resources, the resurrected entity raised from the ashes of the bankrupt Enron Corporation. (EOG stands for Enron Oil and Gas.)

Keep all this in mind as we consider what Gunasekara proposes in Project 2025. The mission statement sounds reasonable enough: to steer a conservative EPA to "balance justified skepticism toward an agency that has long been amenable to being co-opted by the Left for political ends against the need to implement the agency's true function: protecting public health and the environment in cooperation with states." But what it really does is undo most of the progress the Biden Administration has made toward battling the climate crisis. To do that, a conservative/Trump administration would weaken the EPA by doing away with "costly, job-killing regulations," eliminate the Offices of Environmental Justice and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance, cut the budget, and fire employees. In short, the ability of the EPA to track methane emissions, manage pollutants, and conduct other environmental projects would be deeply weakened.

From a psychoanalytic perspective, the approach outlined in Project 2025 seems to employ defense mechanisms against eco-anxiety – the chronic fear of environmental doom — by downplaying the urgency of climate change and proposing to weaken environmental protections. Beyond merely providing a cover to Big Oil and other such industries, we can further interpret Project 2025's environmental proposals as a collective form of denial and rationalization.

Denial and rationalization may temporarily alleviate the anxiety associated with confronting the reality of climate change, but it doesn't address the underlying issue — rising sea levels sink all boats no matter their political affiliation. In fact, such extreme denial and rationalization could exacerbate eco-anxiety in the long run by delaying necessary action. As psychoanalysts, we understand that facing our anxieties, rather than avoiding them, is crucial for healthy adaptation and problem-solving.

Moreover, the project's emphasis on what might be read as "justified skepticism" towards environmental concerns could be seen as a form of reaction formation – an unconscious defense mechanism that attempts to cope with unacceptable or anxiety-provoking facts (in this case, with eco-anxiety) by adopting an opposite stance. Like denial and rationalization, reaction formation might provide temporary relief but ultimately hinders our ability to address the very real environmental challenges we face.

While Project 2025's approach may exacerbate eco-anxiety and stall environmental progress, the average American retains plenty of power to make a difference. In fact, there are numerous ways to safeguard climate progress (albeit, often on a local level) and build personal resilience in the face of environmental challenges.

Some strategies to consider:

1. Take local action: Combat feelings of anxiety and make real progress in real time by engaging in community-level environmental initiatives.
2. Practice mindful consumption: Make sustainable choices in daily life, from reducing waste to supporting eco-friendly businesses. Even making small choices feels empowering and can provide a sense of control.
3. Connect with nature: Regularly spend time outdoors to strengthen bonds with the environment to reduce anxiety and reinforce a commitment to protection efforts.
4. Join or form support groups: Connect with like-minded individuals to share concerns and strategies while building community resilience and providing emotional support.
5. Educate and advocate: Transform anxiety into purposeful action by staying informed and sharing reliable, fact-based information with others.
6. Cultivate emotional resilience: Practice stress-reduction techniques like meditation or journaling to manage eco-anxiety healthily.
7. Focus on solutions: Engage with and support innovative environmental technologies and policies. For a comprehensive approach to safeguarding our democracy and environment, consider picking up my new book, "The Power of Community: A 45 Day Action Plan to Stop Trump from Turning Our Democracy into His Autocracy" This book offers practical strategies for community action that can help shift our focus from problems to progress, fostering hope and resilience in the face of environmental and political challenges.

Transforming eco-anxiety into proactive engagement means we protect both the environment and our psychological well-being. Project 2025 may threaten environmental protections at the federal level, but our personal growth and collective action can safeguard existing climate progress and continue pushing for meaningful climate action, regardless of politics.