The Real Monsters Are in Washington, Not Haunted Houses

by LaTricea D. Adams, Word in Black

LaTricea D. Adams of Young, Gifted & Green says the real horror we face is the gutting of climate protections.

As a child, Halloween was fun. My mom is a skilled seamstress, and when I was in kindergarten she made me a beautiful witch costume and let me put on makeup. “Trick or treating” was something I really looked forward to.  

Back then, Halloween was about creativity and community. Nowadays, the real horror in Halloween is not in the costumes, horror movies or haunted houses, but in the escalating impacts of climate disasters compounded by cutting environmental protections and illegal cuts to disaster response at FEMA by the current administration. The rollback of core Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) safeguards — like the Endangerment Finding — turns our neighborhoods into scenes of genuine terror, with disproportionate harm aimed at Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities.

What’s Scary: Deregulation and Disaster

The scariest part about this October is the reality that the current administration has put profits for polluters before Americans’ health and safety with its move to repeal the EPA’s Endangerment Finding, the legal backbone for regulating climate pollution. The Endangerment Finding concludes that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. This vital protection against deadly pollution is under attack, and its repeal would be a devastating “trick” for frontline families already haunted by more intense extreme weather events and heightened pollution-related health issues. There is the real possibility that federal climate protections will disappear right when we need them most.

READ MORE: Climate Progress at Risk as Government Shutdown Continues

This comes on the heels of a proposed 54% cut to the EPA budget — gutting state and federal funding for clean air and water, eliminating nearly 90% of key grants for environmental health, and eradicating the EPA’s Environmental Justice office. In cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Detroit, and my hometown of Memphis, the cuts mean fewer air monitors, less lead testing, and weaker disaster response. The ongoing government shutdown has made a bad situation worse, giving polluters more leeway and putting our communities’ health and futures at risk as extreme weather, toxic air, and unsafe water push us further into danger.

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