From Nathan Dombeck 

Janesville

To the Editor:

Another day, another vile decision by the Trump administration; the latest is resident-fossil-fuel-stooge Lee Zeldin’s decision at the EPA to rescind the so-called ‘Endangerment finding’. The Endangerment Finding was actually issued by the Environmental Protection Agency itself in 2009, back when it actually stood for protecting our environment and community health, and was the EPA’s conclusion summarizing the detrimental effects that greenhouse gas emissions have on human health. Adhering to evidence-based science about how greenhouse gas emissions were polluting and warming our world and harming our health, it formed the basis of many of our most important rules and laws regulating pollutants and pushing us toward a cleaner, greener future.

Now, the most brazenly corrupt administration in history is repealing that finding and undermining everything that stands on it. The science is clear and the ruling was issued by the same agency, just a decade and a half earlier; what’s changed? We’re living in a time of greater danger than ever: increasing frequency of catastrophic storms, floods, droughts, and the health crises these bring.

The Trump administration and Zeldin call it de-regulating and ‘Making America Great Again’, but our country can only be great by investing in the future of its people — not sacrificing them at the altar of profits.

The International Court of Justice (IUCN) is a real entity. Established by the United Nations, it’s also known as the ‘World’s Court’ and is the top judicial body of the UN. When the IUCN speaks, it’s time to listen up.

This judicial body issued a strongly worded and unanimous opinion statement on Wednesday, 7/23/25, that the failure of nations to act on the ‘urgent and existential’ threat of climate change and protect their peoples may constitute an ‘internationally wrongful act’.

Coded in legalese, it’s momentous — this statement is the first the IUCN has issued on climate change. It has the power to shape current court cases and new litigation efforts against countries’ governments, as a multiplicity of cases across the globe have been filed to spur action on climate. It applies to private companies — like fossil fuel — operating in a country’s borders. It calls for compensating poorer nations that have borne the brunt of climate change from wealthier nations.

This may be just a crack in the façade of seemingly impenetrable fossil-fuel-powered nations; but here’s to hoping that crack widens and lets the light in that we’re waiting for.