Yesterday the stroke of a pen appeared to erase wisdom. But, as Kenneth K. Mayer’s With the Stroke of a Pen: Executive Orders and Presidential Power reminds us, appearance and reality are sometimes different. There’s a difference between the stroke of a pen and an eraser.

Mr. Trump signed the executive order that defies climate science, diminishes responsible federal action on climate change, and promotes a hoax: more jobs and a stronger economy.

The news coverage of the President proudly displaying the executive order to the “audience” while surrounded by smiling fossil fuel corporate executives and climate change deniers left me feeling sick.

Fortunately, thanks to a political system of checks-and-balances, and organizations like the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC)*, there’s more to reality than the stroke of a pen and what meets the eye from a television camera.

Read U.S. Climate Actions Can’t Be Stopped With the Stoke of a Pen and enjoy a better day than yesterday.

• Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, March 29, 2017.

* NRDC works to safeguard the earth – its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.