Editor’s Note: A version of this article originally appeared on the website of Food & Water Action (our affiliated organization) at an earlier date.

If you’ve been overwhelmed by the onslaught of news coming out of the White House, you’re not alone. And that’s by design. Every day we wake up to alerts of a new controversy or overreach or rollback, only for it to be replaced by some fresh horror mere hours or minutes later.

Yet, we can’t let Trump’s chaos obscure what really matters. His agenda is clear: amass power for himself and his wealthy friends, cut programs and protections for everyone else.

This agenda puts everything we hold dear — including our food, water, and livable future — in grave danger. But the administration’s strategy to “flood the zone” with as much chaos as possible has allowed some of its most dangerous moves to fly under the radar.

We aren’t letting him get away with this. Since inauguration day, we’ve been loudly opposing moves from Trump and his allies in Congress to cut protections against PFAS “forever chemicals” and lead in our water. Here are seven other Trump actions that shouldn’t go unnoticed, and how you can join our fight to stop them. 

1. Cutting Food Safety Programs that Protect Us From Illness

Trump is pushing us toward a world in which every bite of food we eat may be suspect. Already, more than 100,000 people are hospitalized every year due to foodborne illnesses. With Trump’s recent cuts to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), we can expect even more to get sick. 

Trump slashed 3,500 FDA jobs, including those responding to the bird flu epidemic. These staffing cuts have suspended milk quality testing and a quality control program for the country’s food safety testing. 

His overall deregulatory agenda — including an initiative to end 10 protections for every new one passed — will allow corporations to pollute our food supply even more.

2. Raising Energy Costs for Families

Trump campaigned on lowering costs, but his policies will only make energy more expensive. He fired the entire staff responsible for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps more than 6 million people pay their energy bills and keep the lights on. 

Without federal assistance, electricity will become unaffordable for many. Some may lose life-saving air conditioning amidst unlivable summer heat. 

Trump is also moving to raise energy costs by fast-tracking projects for liquefied natural gas exports, even after the Energy Department found that expanding these exports will raise energy prices here at home.

Moreover, he declared a bogus “national energy emergency” to speed up fossil fuel drilling. This will only delay our transition to cheaper renewables. More fossil fuels also means more climate disasters, which will make power more expensive as utilities raise rates to upgrade infrastructure in response. 

3. Allowing More Deadly Air Pollution

Since the 1970s, federal protections have made the air we breathe healthier and safer. In a single year, the Clean Air Act prevents an estimated 230,000 early deaths and more than 120,000 emergency room visits.

But the Trump administration is reversing that progress. It’s pushed to roll back protections against mercury and air toxics emissions from power plants, tailpipe emissions from vehicles, and methane pollution from the oil and gas industry. It’s even allowing industrial facilities to receive so-called “presidential exemptions” from clean air regulations. All they have to do is send an email request. 

Air pollution is responsible for worsening asthma, heart disease, and other illnesses, especially in lower-income and Black and Brown communities that are more likely to live near a power plant or highway than wealthier, whiter ones. Make no mistake, Trump’s rollbacks will cost lives.

4. Slashing Programs for Small, Sustainable Farms

Amid a sea of policies that have propped up Big Ag, a few federal programs have dedicated funding to small, sustainable farmers. But Trump’s cuts have threatened several of these programs, cutting staff and canceling or freezing contracts. Struggling farmers who preserve and improve soil, water, and wildlife now face even more financial instability. 

Trump has also cut $1 billion in funding for local food systems through the Agricultural Marketing Service. This includes programs that pay farmers to grow food for nearby food banks and schools. In Iowa alone, hundreds of farmers have already started growing in anticipation of this funding, which they will no longer receive. “This is the kind of stuff that sends farms into foreclosure,” said one advocate.

Meanwhile, some of Trump’s other policies — notably, his tariffs — may lead to more benefits for Big Ag and more small farms shuttering.

5. Opening the Floodgates for Toxic Pollutants

The EPA is key to federal efforts to safeguard our health and environment from corporate abuses. It does vital research into potentially dangerous chemicals, cleans up toxic dump “Superfund” sites, holds corporations accountable for minimizing pollution, and more. But the Trump administration is taking a hacksaw to these duties. 

It’s proposed a 65% cut to the agency’s budget and the complete elimination of its Office of Research and Development. If successful, Trump will severely hamstring the government’s ability to respond to emerging threats, like PFAS and microplastics.

At the same time, the administration is gutting protections that have helped keep corporate abuses at bay for decades. For example, it withdrew a proposal to limit the amount of PFAS in the wastewater of PFAS makers. And while we get sicker, corporations get richer, as Trump lets them off the hook for dealing with their waste responsibly.

6. Torching Our Bedrock Environmental Protection Law

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) plays a vital role in keeping our communities and environment safe, while giving the public a greater voice in what gets built in their backyards. It requires federal agencies to review the environmental impacts of major actions (like permitting energy projects or highways), consider less harmful alternatives, and collect public input. 

Trump has gone after this law before and is going after it again. For decades, the Council of Environmental Quality has issued rules specifying how agencies should follow NEPA. 

With an executive order, Trump obliterated nearly 50 years of these rules, throwing our regulatory system into chaos. He’s also ordered NEPA reviews to prioritize “efficiency,” which will assuredly fast-track fossil fuel and other dirty projects. These moves threaten to bring more pipelines, drilling, gas-fired power plants, and more to our communities.

7. Risking Lives in Climate Disasters

Trump’s climate impact goes beyond his full-throated embrace of Big Oil and Gas. He’s not only propelling us further into climate chaos; he’s hurting our ability to prevent and respond to climate disasters.

The administration’s cuts have reduced Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff by a third, and it plans to cut hundreds of millions in funding to help communities prepare for the next disaster. 

Cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will impair its ability to forecast major weather events, putting lives at risk. The cuts are impacting Forest Service staff who fight wildfires and Americorps staff who distribute food after hurricanes. 

Climate disasters are putting more people in danger than ever. Trump is making things much, much worse.

Take Back Power — Join Our Fight Against Trump’s Agenda!

The whole point behind “flooding the zone” is to make us feel overwhelmed and powerless. But we can make a difference and stop the worst of Trump’s agenda. 

Food & Water Watch is tracking threats to food, water, and climate and identifying places where we can make a big impact. 

One of our biggest fights right now is a budget reconciliation bill moving through Congress. This bill would codify many of Trump’s funding cuts into law and pass new ones. Notably, it puts millions at risk of losing food assistance or healthcare. At the same time, it would grow Trump’s 2017 tax giveaways to the ultra-wealthy and corporations, while increasing taxes for low-income families. 

Since the start, Food & Water Watch has fought this bill and pressured lawmakers to stand with us. Our volunteers and supporters have flooded these lawmakers with letters, messages, calls, and meetings.

Already, we’re seeing successes — the House version of the bill has dropped many terrible measures, including cuts to school lunches and to financing tools for affordable water. But we need all the people power possible to oppose this bill and the rest of the Trump agenda.

With the help of supporters like you, we can counter Trump’s power with our own, win tangible change for our communities, and push progress toward a livable future for all.