Das Williams wiped his fingers of chalk after writing “DON’T BE COMPLACENT” in large capital letters on a blackboard in UCSB’s Bren Hall on Monday afternoon. The board was situated behind a panel of environmentalists and anti-Trumpers. The panelists — Williams, 1st District county supervisor, Debbie Cox Bultan, executive director of NewDEAL, and Lanny Ebenstein, Republican author of 10 historical economical books — stood before a packed lecture hall and projected their ideas on the environmental ramifications of the first 100 days of President Donald Trump.
Dr. Matt Potoski, professor at the Bren School, UCSB’s environmental graduate program, led the discussion. He outlined several steps Trump has taken to overturn previous federal regulations on the human carbon footprint. These include executive orders to restore permit processes for the Keystone Pipeline, suspend Obama’s Clean Power Plan (which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by coal-burning power plants), and cut funding to environmental agencies.
Williams passionately voiced his environmental concerns about the direction the Trump administration is taking. “They seem to believe their actions are not going to have an environmental impact, but it’s 99 percent likely that it will,” he said, half-joking that if you planned on getting a job at the EPA in the next four years, “you might want to reconsider.” He said the goals of the Obama administration nationally had been to “get back to 2005 emission levels,” and that California had strived higher, working toward returning to 80 percent of 1990's levels.