Just before the Fourth of July, the White House shared some excellent news. By executive order, there is now a “Make America Beautiful Again” commission, chaired by that champion of our National Parks and public lands, Secretary of the Interior Douglas Burgum.

The purpose of this marvelous commission is “promote responsible stewardship of natural resources while driving economic growth.” The language of the order is sweeping, even inspiring. This order says it will expand access in parks and forests “while promoting a wide range of outdoor recreation opportunities like hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, boating, off-roading and wildlife viewing.”

But like every order issued by the president in the past five-plus months, it comes with a huge price to be paid by every American now and for decades if not centuries to come.

Burgum, like other cabinet members, will do the president’s bidding. That is why he and his compatriots were appointed. He will not only encourage people to love remote areas to death by tromping through ancient forests and paving over priceless paradises; he has also been instructed to open protected lands for exploitation by oil and gas companies, as well as the mining and timber industries. These include millions of acres of pristine, roadless Alaska wilderness and fragile high desert country in the Southwest.

That certainly will help Make America Beautiful Again.

As Americans eagerly head for the hills to enjoy this newfound wilderness, or accept the White House’s reminder to explore our National Parks and Monuments, the president has wisely instituted cost-cutting measures which will certainly make their trips more enjoyable. He has thoughtfully slashed the number of park and forest rangers whose experience and knowledge are vital for public safety and education. He has magnanimously rolled back environmental protections designed to maintain clean water and clean air.

In the name of personal freedom for companies and individuals, he has sought to abolish rules aimed at protecting endangered species. What a boon for hunters, fishermen and all those who love the outdoors!

The president has generously subsidized oil and gas companies and carefully restricted renewable energy producers. His Big Beautiful Bill will work its magic by, among other things, further delaying our transition to clean energy. We as consumers have been deprived of our tax credit for electric vehicles, and we have fewer options for wind and solar energy. All for the better, I’m sure.

Also very impactfully, the president and his minions have cut staff at the National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Weather Service, and are poised to attack waste, fraud and abuse at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by withdrawing much of its support. How ingenious of the federal government, first, to undermine our ability to predict and warn people about extreme weather events and, second, to make states responsible for dealing with them!

But climate change is a hoax, so it follows that extreme weather events must not be any worse than they always have been. Even if they are more common, of course there is no need to improve our ability to predict and warn, and then assist in the aftermath of disasters. After all, it seems their thinking goes, disasters are just tough luck for those who happen to get caught in them.

I have been looking for a response from the president or from Burgum to our most recent tragic weather event resulting in catastrophic flooding along the Guadeloupe River in the Texas hill country. Maybe I simply missed their thoughts and prayers for the victims.

I wonder how they explain how droughts are drier, forest fires are fiercer, hurricanes more destructive or rainfall events are wetter. But mostly I wonder whether they have even a modicum of concern for the victims who pay dearly for the denial and negligence of their administration. And I worry for all of us as we pay for their rash and reckless policies, for years or even centuries to come.

How about we all just do our best not to destroy the beautiful lands we have right now, rather than mess with this new mandate to make them beautiful again? We would be far better off.

Millie LaFontaine lives in Concord.