According to The New York Times, Trump has been falsely labeling common-sense environmental protections as “job killers.” Why? Because he’s hoping doing so will help him slash over 100 environmental rules that hold his fossil fuel and oil donors accountable.

Pitting environmental protection against the economy is not new. It is a standard tactic by trickle-downers to convince people who are feeling the brunt of a failing economy to mortgage our collective future for a temporary immediate gain. But the truth is, not only is it a bad choice – it isn’t even a real one. 

There isn’t a trade-off between economic benefit and environmental protection. Environmental regulations save lives, create jobs, and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in economic benefits to communities across the country.

NYU reviewed the economic impact of environmental regulation. Among the environmental protections that are being slashed are mercury safeguards that created on average 2,100 jobs in affected industries, generated between $25 billion and $65 billion in benefits for the economy, and saved 8,000 lives every year. Another rule on pollution created on average 700 jobs in affected industries, generated between $120 billion and $280 billion in benefits for the economy, and saved 34,000 lives every year. 

Environmental regulations don’t kill jobs, they create them – and they create billions of dollars of benefits for everyday people in the process. Trump and other trickle-downers want you to believe that what is good for massive corporations and ultra-rich CEOs is what is good for you, but it couldn’t be further from the truth; trickle-downers will choose their own economic gains over the environment every single time.

Creating a prosperous economy means investing in our natural resources, ensuring every family has clean air and water, and protecting communities from devastating environmental and public health impacts. We can scale a proportional response to the looming climate catastrophe – but only if we refute trickle-downers and invest in a Green New Deal.

After all, rising sea levels, increasingly frequent storms, and rampant forest fires are the real job killers.

When we regulate, we mitigate risk down the line – and hold polluters accountable for the devastation they create. That’s why trickle-downers’ deregulatory itch is so dubious and dangerous – it’s mortgaging our future and lining the pockets of polluters to pay for our impoverished present.

Protecting our economy’s resilience – and saving our planet from catastrophic climate change – depends on creating a Green New Deal rooted in clean-energy jobs and environmental regulations. We can make a better world for our kids and tens of millions of good paying jobs in the process. But we need everyone fighting hard for change, which is why we’re hoping to get 1,000 replies to this question before midnight. Tell us: