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Carpenter, aviator, actor; I knew Harrison Ford was all of these things. I had no idea, however, that Ford is also a longtime environmental advocate, to the extent that he had a decades-long friendship with E.O. Wilson, the late biologist and myrmecologist (translation: ant guy), who’s credited with coining the term “biodiversity.” Wilson even named a species of ant after his friend — the Pheidole harrisonfordi of Central and South America! (And you’re welcome, cause surely this intro has already provided answers for at least 11 future Jeopardy questions.) So it was a touching tribute to real friendship, the vital/desperate plight to save natural ecosystems while we still can, and the profile of ants worldwide when Ford was given an award last week in Wilson’s name. Ford accepted the inaugural E.O. Wilson Legacy Award for Transformative Conservation Leadership at the Field Museum in Chicago, where our favorite ornery ant actor made a point of bashing Trump for his disastrous environmental policies, if you can even call them that.
Oh, the perfidy! In a blistering attack upon the president, Ford told the Guardian that Trump “doesn’t have any policies, he has whims. It scares the sh-t out of me. The ignorance, the hubris, the lies, the perfidy. [Trump] knows better, but he’s an instrument of the status quo and he’s making money, hand over fist, while the world goes to hell in a handbasket.” The legendary Star Wars and Indiana Jones actor, who is 83, added: “It’s unbelievable. I don’t know of a greater criminal in history.”
Destruction Don: In his second term as president, Trump has set about dismantling climate and clean air protections, halted clean energy projects, urged oil and gas companies to “drill, baby, drill” for the fossil fuels that are overheating the planet, fired hundreds of scientists while deleting their work, and even banned mentions of “climate change” and “emissions” within government. Trump, who has again withdrawn the US from the Paris climate deal, has also targeted other countries’ climate policies, pressing the UK to tear down its “ugly” wind turbines in favor of more oil drilling and demanding that the European Union roll back its climate rules and purchase more American oil and gas. Climate change was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, Trump said during a speech to the United Nations last month.
A solid gold dig: Ford, a longtime environmental advocate, said Trump’s dislike of wind turbines was because “he has just not seen a gold one” and that the president’s legacy on the climate crisis would be “a clear expression of ignorance, of hubris and purposeful subterfuge”.
Harrison still has hope: However, the world is increasingly embracing cleaner forms of energy, albeit at a slower pace than required to stave off escalating climate impacts, and Ford said he was hopeful that Trump’s fossil fuel-dominated vision would not prevail. “He’s losing ground because everything he says is a lie,” Ford said. “I’m confident we can mitigate against [climate change], that we can buy time to change behaviors, to create new technologies, to concentrate more fully on implementation of those policies. “But we have to develop the political will and intellectual sophistication to realize that we human beings are capable of change. We are incredibly adaptive, we are incredibly inventive. If we concentrate on a problem we can fix it most times.”
Fighting against encroachment on remaining natural landscapes is key: “We are teetering on the edge,” Ford said of the ongoing loss of nature via deforestation, pollution and other human-caused destruction. “Indigenous people are the stewards of much of the remaining standing forests and contain the hope that these precious places can be preserved. The science has proved the value in their preservation but that does not keep them from encroachment, and the protection they are granted is tenuous in some of the countries these assets exist in.”
Wait, Dementia Don has seriously banned people from using the words “climate change” and “emissions” around him? Not even like an assistant going, “The president has released some noxious emissions in the oval office and we need agents deployed to change the climate in there immediately.” Surely that’s a situation that arises. Daily. Multiple times a day. And while we’re being picky about words, I think it’s awfully generous of Ford to call Trump’s abysmal policies “whims.” I’d say “regurgitations” is more accurate, cause it’s not like he’s coming up with this sh-t on his own. Regardless, I’ve greatly enjoyed meeting Harrison Ford the conservation leader/advocate (even if it’s just me who’s woefully late to the party). It’s an intriguing revelation and makes me all the more glad he has no intentions of retiring soon. I also can’t help but marvel at the extraordinary juxtaposition this week between Ford, an actor genuinely being an environmentalist, with that of a certain would-be global statesman who’s merely playing at being one.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon, Getty