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Healthy climate? Who needs that when there's a birthday parade to be paid for? [1]

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Date: 2025-05-06

Michigan, where I live and which went for Biden in 2020, went, surprisingly, for Trump in November. Most of us who volunteered in the presidential election expected Harris to win. It was what we were hearing, not only from the media, but from the numerous individuals and groups we encountered. A number of factors have been blamed for moving the tinge of this purple state into the red zone. The “Vote Uncommitted” effort in the heavily Arab neighborhoods in Wayne County (Thanks a lot for coming all the way up here and encouraging that, Beto O’Rourke!) and a steep decline in voter turnout, especially among men who, it seems, just couldn’t cast a vote for a woman, have been cited as answers to why a state that has elected Democrats to every major state office in recent years voted for the worst presidential candidate in living memory.

But really—who knows why? What we do know is that the uninvolved and uncommitted are now getting a taste of what they voted for. Sadly, the rest of us are experiencing that same bitter taste.

Bridge Michigan, an excellent statewide nonpartisan, nonprofit news operation, has been reporting on the devastating budget cuts being made here by the Trump Administration that will have negative effects on a whole lot of programs that have been improving life here. One of these is AmeriCorps, which places volunteers—people who work for free!--in dozens of programs that support unmet needs of local communities. Cuts to AmeriCorps will put an end to more than 1,000 ongoing efforts statewide, including literacy programs and volunteer tutors for schoolchildren, homelessness initiatives, and public health and safety programs.

Today the hatchet fell on the relatively paltry funding ($1.2 million—just a couple of million more than that parade is going to cost) for the MI Healthy Climate Corps, a service program “dedicated to developing an enduring, capable network of climate professionals committed to serving communities and building a more sustainable future for Michigan.” The 31 MHC Corps members who were supposed to work through October to develop practical resources that bolster the state’s clean energy and sustainability workforce, build climate action capacity in communities across the state, guide federal and state resources to communities in greatest need, and advance the MI Healthy Climate Plan and its goal of a prosperous, equitable, carbon-neutral Michigan economy by 2050 will be sent home.

I live in the most Democratic city in the most Democratic county in the state, so a house festooned for years with Trump flags, Trump banners, and Trump signs from roof to foundation in a nearby neighborhood has drawn a lot of attention. In the past month, all of that Trump decor has disappeared. We know it’s not because the house was sold and new people moved in. Did someone lose a job? Did a family member die of measles? It’s probably not because of any of the draconian budget cuts that will make life in Michigan less than it could be. But let’s see what happens in the next round, as life here gets a little shabbier, a lot more expensive, and a lot less pleasant.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/6/2320921/-Healthy-climate-Who-needs-that-when-there-s-a-birthday-parade-to-be-paid-for?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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