Justice Is a Verb.

This week marks a jarring convergence for the United States: Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, followed shortly by one year into Donald Trump’s second term as President. 

As we honor Dr King’s legacy of justice and equality, we are forced to reckon with an administration actively dismantling those very principles. Over the last 365 days, the U.S. has seen not only the erosion of environmental protections, but a broader assault on civil rights and democratic norms – with frontline communities paying the heaviest price.

Climate injustice has now become policy.

Dismantling climate progress

The assault on environmental policies began almost immediately. Within hours of taking office, the President signed a series of Executive Orders eliminating electric vehicle subsidies, opening public lands to expanded oil and gas drilling, and directly revoking the federal government’s commitment to environmental justice. 

He has launched a war on renewable energy–including abruptly terminating grants that would have helped over 900,000 low- and moderate-income families install solar panels–even as courts declare these moves unlawful. 

Abroad, the U.S. has bullied other countries into retreating on their climate goals.

Who bears the burden?

There are real, measurable costs to these rollbacks. U.S. emissions rose in 2025, reversing the downward trend of the prior two years. 

But beyond the carbon math lies deeper harm. 

Since the current administration took office, household electric bills have soared by 13% nationally – worsening the burden on families already forced to choose between keeping the lights on, healthcare, and food. Meanwhile, the 10 richest U.S. billionaires grew nearly $700 billion wealthier in 2025 – with more tax cuts for the top 1% of Americans expected under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

And, the EPA will soon “stop considering lives saved” when setting air pollution standards – a move that disproportionately burdens communities of color already facing the worst exposures to toxic pollutants.

Air pollution kills more Americans every year than car accidents do. Ignoring that reality is not fiscal restraint; it is moral failure.

By systematically dismantling environmental justice in this country, the Trump administration has abandoned the principle that every person – regardless of race, income, or zip code – deserves clean air, safe water, and affordable energy.

At the same time, we are witnessing a parallel expansion of state violence under the banner of “law and order.” Across the country, aggressive ICE raids are picking individuals – including U.S. citizens – off the street based on race, and instilling fear as a governing strategy. 

When environmental protections are stripped away, when civil rights are rolled back, and when immigrant communities are terrorized rather than protected – the administration sends the message that some lives are disposable. 

We cannot accept this premise.

Justice is a verb

Dr. King famously said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” But as President Obama later reminded us, that arc “doesn’t bend on its own—it bends because we pull it in the direction of justice.” 

One year on, the lesson is unmistakable: justice will not come from the White House. It will come from organized resistance, relentless advocacy, and communities refusing to accept pollution and violence as policy. 

The good news? Vibes =/= reality. As Canary Media writes, decarbonization continues to move forward even as the climate rhetoric is turned topsy-turvy (at least, in the Western world). Renewable energy is still winning. Despite an all-out federal assault, 92% of new capacity added to the U.S. grid last year came from solar, wind, and storage. Clean energy is cheap, abundant, and creates good jobs rooted in local communities.

Heatmap reports that 25 data center projects in the U.S. were cancelled last year after local community pushback, due to concerns around environmental pollution, water use, and utility price hikes. That’s four times as many as 2024.

And, millions of Americans are rising up not just for a livable climate, but to fight for dignity, safety, and the right to be without fear.

This is not a moment for self-preservation or retreat. It is a moment to dig deep and dig in. How can we strengthen our coalitions? What would a truly just, resilient, and flourishing post-Trump future look like? 

We must build the institutional and grassroots power required not just to withstand this moment – but to define what comes after it.