INSPADES MAGAZINE DUE | Page 180

Keep Your Oil Out of My Water The work of ecologist artist Dr. Aviva Rahmani could not be more relevant than today where, in the United States especially, issues related to oil and water been making global headlines lately. Most notably is Donald Trump’s recent rise to the president-elect. One of Trump’s election platforms threatened to dismantle the recent Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce carbon pollution in American power plants. Carbon dioxide (which accounted for 81% of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions in 2014), enters the atmosphere when fossil fuels like natural gas and oil are burned. Whether or not Trump manages to uproot the Clean Power Plan once seated in the White House, the stance he has taken does not consider issues relating to climate change to be a priority, especially regarding sustainable energy and the reduction of oil use. When Dr. Rahmani spoke with INSPADES prior to the 2016 election results in October, she expressed concern that the “chasm that has been unveiled in [American] demographics will gobble up all our attention,” and that climate change initiatives would fall to the back burner. Despite the distraction of Trump’s controversial triumph, headlines have been drawing the environmental issues concerning Standing Rock Reservation into mainstream discourse. Even celebrities like Jason Momoa, Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, are using 180 inspadesmag.com