Trump on Earth

Tracking the latest environment-related shenanigans from Trump & his allies.

Series Finale 01/15/2021

Series Finale When he first ran for President, Donald Trump was called the “chaos candidate”. And to bitter end, that has been borne out. But another kind of radical change has happened over the last four years, often out of the headlines. So, for our last episode, we take stock of the past four years. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/17567771

"Sound science is not leading the decisions made by this nation." 12/24/2020

"Sound science is not leading the decisions made by this nation." There have been a number of changes in how the EPA, under President Trump, uses science. It has come with much criticism, including from former EPA officials. On this episode, we hear from a veteran EPA scientist on what drove him to leave the Trump Administration. Chris Zarba worked at the EPA for close to four decades. He was an official in the administrator's office of the agency and also directed the Agency’s Science Advisory Board Staff Office. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/17315966

Trump’s Last Act: Drilling in the Arctic Refuge 12/03/2020

Trump’s Last Act: Drilling in the Arctic Refuge The outgoing president has a few things he’d like to take care of before January 20. Among them is selling off parcels of land in the Alaskan wilderness to oil companies. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is 20 million acres of mountains, tundra & coastlands. Underneath it, there are billions of barrels of oil. Similar plans have sparked fights for decades, so why the Trump administration push to drill there now? Our guest is Tegan Hanlon, a public radio reporter for Alaska’s Energy Desk in Anchorag /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/17053532

What does Biden's win mean for the environment and the fight to rein in climate change? 11/11/2020

What does Biden's win mean for the environment and the fight to rein in climate change? Biden ran as a moderate Democrat, but he also campaigned on an aggressive climate platform. How much of that agenda he can pursue could rest on who controls the US Senate. We unpack what's coming next with Jody Freeman, director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School. Freeman worked in the Obama White House as counselor for climate and energy where she was the architect of the fuel-efficiency regulations for cars, which were later rolled back under President Trump. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16776596

How the Environment is Playing in Swing States 10/29/2020

How the Environment is Playing in Swing States On this episode, we're looking at what role climate change and other environmental issues could play in deciding the election. We check in with reporters in three major battleground states--Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida--to find out. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16607924

Will 2020 be the Year of the Climate Voter? 10/22/2020

Will 2020 be the Year of the Climate Voter? As Election Day nears, a majority of registered voters say climate change will be an important issue in making their choice for president. But a surprising number of people who say they care about environmental issues don’t actually cast ballots. That’s where the Environmental Voter Project comes in. For the past four years, the nonpartisan organization has been building what they call an army of environmental super voters. Will they turn out? /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16504601

Trump vs the Courts 10/08/2020

Trump vs the Courts Many of President Trump's environmental actions have faced court challenges. So how’s the administration doing? First we hear from Ann Carlson, professor of environmental law at UCLA about a climate change case just added to the Supreme Court docket. And then we take a look at how the Trump administration has been faring in court with Michael Gerrard, professor of environmental and climate law at Columbia University. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16318745

Losing RBG 09/24/2020

Losing RBG Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a feminist icon in the U.S., as one of the first women in many of the roles and rooms she found herself in over her life. Her death and the subsequent race by the Trump administration to confirm her successor will remake American law for decades, most notably by putting Roe versus Wade in jeopardy. But it could also remake environmental law. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16137218

Labor Unions and Environmentalists Join Forces to Defeat Trump 09/16/2020

Labor Unions and Environmentalists Join Forces to Defeat Trump Trump calls himself a "great environmentalist” while gutting environmental protections and questioning the science around climate change. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/16037123

Why the Trump Administration is Rolling Back a Climate Rule that Big Oil Actually Likes 09/03/2020

Why the Trump Administration is Rolling Back a Climate Rule that Big Oil Actually Likes Trump's EPA recently announced that it was rolling back yet another big Obama-era climate rule. This time the target was emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane. The Obama administration created the rule in 2016 and some big oil companies actually wanted the administration to keep it. But the Trump administration did away with it anyway. Why? Tim Puko covers energy policy at the Wall Street Journal and he explains that there is a legal strategy at play aimed at future climate regulations. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15864623

@ Interior: Victories and Defeats for Oil Industry 08/20/2020

@ Interior: Victories and Defeats for Oil Industry This week the Trump administration announced that 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be opened for drilling. The administration argues the decision will generate billions of dollars in revenue, but opponents warn that it will have a devastating effect on the region. We talk with Darryl Fears who covers the Interior Department for The Washington Post about what the ANWR win means and also about a recent defeat involving Trump's attempt to weaken the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15683873

2020: Our last chance to save the planet? 08/05/2020

2020: Our last chance to save the planet? We are now three months away from an election that could determine A LOT, including what our future climate looks like. On this episode, we discuss the 2020 election through the prism of climate change. We talk with Marianne Levelle from Inside Climate News, about Joe Biden's evolving climate policy and why he's gotten more aggressive on the issue. And we talk with Time magazine's Justin Worland who recently wrote a cover story for the magazine titled "2020 is our last, best chance to save the planet. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15499358

Major defeats for pipelines…and Trump. 07/22/2020

Major defeats for pipelines…and Trump. Federal courts recently handed down major decisions against big pipelines, including the Dakota Access pipeline. What do these decisions mean for the Trump administration's campaign for energy dominance? Our first guest is Ellen Gilmer, who tracks environmental policy for Bloomberg News. Then we hear from Nick Tilsen, CEO of NDN Collective, a Native American rights and social justice organization, on what the Dakota Access decision means for the rights of America's indigenous people. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15315182

Trump issues final rules to weaken NEPA 07/17/2020

Trump issues final rules to weaken NEPA This week, President Trump announced he was issuing final rules to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The new rules will limit public review of federal infrastructure projects to speed up the permitting of highways, power plants & pipelines. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15252995

Living on Earth: Bill McKibben on the Divestment Movement 07/03/2020

Living on Earth: Bill McKibben on the Divestment Movement Harvard is one of the latest in a series of wealthy institutions around the world announcing steps towards pulling their investments in the fossil fuel industry. But Harvard’s announcement has been called too little, too late. Bill McKibben reflects on what the divestment movement has achieved so far and how it all began. Also, why racial justice goes hand in hand with the fight for a cleaner environment, and the big takeaways that the coronavirus pandemic has for the climate crisis. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/15069971

Tracking Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks 06/17/2020

Tracking Trump’s Environmental Rollbacks Harvard Law School is keeping tabs on the regulatory changes of the Trump Administration. What’s the lasting legacy of the nearly 100 environmental rollbacks? /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/14860520

Can the environmental movement address American racism? 06/04/2020

Can the environmental movement address American racism? There’s a growing understanding that racial disparities in the U.S. extend beyond policing, to public health and the environment. Communities of color are more likely to , and be exposed to toxic chemicals. And now COVID-19 is disproportionately threatening these same communities Our guest is environmental justice leader Mustafa Santiago Ali. From 1993-2017, Ali served as Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization and Assistant Associate Administrator as a founding member of the EPA Office of Environmental Justice. But when the Trump administration proposed drastically cutting EPA’s budget and eliminating the Office of Environmental Justice, Ali resigned in protest. Now Ali is the VP of environmental justice at the National Wildlife Federation. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/14700218

Can Joe Biden Convince Climate Voters He Is One of Them? 05/21/2020

Can Joe Biden Convince Climate Voters He Is One of Them? Joe Biden ran considerably to the right of his top rivals on climate policy. But now that he is the nominee, the Biden campaign is trying to convince climate activists that his campaign is taking the issue seriously. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/14507081

Trump's Executive Order to Keep Meat Plants Open Could Be Risky. Here's Why. 05/06/2020

Trump's Executive Order to Keep Meat Plants Open Could Be Risky. Here's Why. President Trump ordered meat processing plants to stay open despite workers getting sick with the coronavirus. On this episode, Jacob Bunge, agriculture reporter for the Wall Street Journal, talks about the meat industry, worker safety, farmers' fears, euthanizing pigs and other issues with the food supply chain. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/14314979

If it Ain't Broke What Are We Fixing, Exactly? 04/23/2020

If it Ain't Broke What Are We Fixing, Exactly? Last week the EPA announced a major change to a landmark regulation that has reduced toxic air pollution like mercury from coal-fired power plants. The vast majority of these plants have already complied with the rule. So why did the EPA roll it back now? /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/14117783

Coronavirus is like Climate Change on Steroids 04/09/2020

Coronavirus is like Climate Change on Steroids If you've been following climate change, the coronavirus pandemic might feel oddly familiar these days. Many countries have implemented radical policies that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago to slow the spread of the virus. Is this what it will take to solve the climate crisis? On this episode, climate journalist Emily Atkin on the intersection of climate change and coronavirus. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13914497

How Dark Money Fuels Mistrust of Science 04/01/2020

How Dark Money Fuels Mistrust of Science How does doubt about science play out in a moment like we’re experiencing now where public health and millions of lives depend on good science and trusting scientists? Our guest is David Michaels, an epidemiologist and author of “The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception.” /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13811000

EPA to Polluters: Monitor Yourselves 03/28/2020

EPA to Polluters: Monitor Yourselves Citing the coronavirus, the EPA announced on Thursday that it would suspend enforcement of many environmental laws. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13736399

A Dark History 03/05/2020

A Dark History Yes, Trump has cozied up to oil companies. He’s said we should have taken the oil from Iraq. And it does seem like we are cozying up to petro-state strongmen in Russia and Saudi Arabia. But is this any different from how the United States and other western powers have operated over the last 150 years? Our guest is Matthieu Auzanneau, author of the book Oil, Power, and War which looks at the deep history of big oil’s influence over the affairs of the U.S. and other Western powers. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13429604

Trump Administration Ending Long-Standing Protections for Migratory Birds 02/20/2020

Trump Administration Ending Long-Standing Protections for Migratory Birds The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is the country's oldest conservation law. It protects more than 1,000 bird species. Now, it is being gutted by the Trump Administration and once again, industry is the winner. Our guest is Brad Bortner, one of 17 former directors and high-level appointees from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who wrote a letter denouncing the move. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13226696

Manipulating Data to Exploit a Disaster 02/06/2020

Manipulating Data to Exploit a Disaster Did the Trump administration manipulate wildfire science to promote the logging industry? An investigation in the Guardian newspaper says yes. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/13038830

Is this Trump's Biggest Environmental Rollback? 01/23/2020

Is this Trump's Biggest Environmental Rollback? The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is often called the Magna Carta of environmental law. President Nixon signed it into law 50 years ago this month. And President Trump honored the anniversary by announcing plans to drastically scale back the law. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/12855803

Strengthening Transparency or Silencing Science? 12/12/2019

Strengthening Transparency or Silencing Science? The EPA is poised to finalize a rule that would require researchers to release their raw scientific data in order for their work to be considered when the EPA sets regulations. When the rule was first proposed, the agency received nearly 600,000 comments, the vast majority of them in opposition. One of those came from Dr. Mary Rice, a pulmonary & critical care doctor who also studies lung disease. Dr. Rice was one of 5 scientists to testify before the House Science Committee on the proposed rule. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/12380603

What’s the Future of Global Climate Policies? 11/28/2019

What’s the Future of Global Climate Policies? The Paris Climate Agreement was put in place to prevent catastrophic and runaway global warming. And since taking office, President Trump has been threatening to pull the U.S. out of it. Earlier this month, he made it official. /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/12212159

Murray Energy, A Major Trump Ally, Goes Bankrupt 11/14/2019

Murray Energy, A Major Trump Ally, Goes Bankrupt President Trump came into office promising to save coal and coal jobs. Instead, the industry has continued to slide. The question now is--how far will it go? /episode/index/show/trumponearth/id/12042314

Trump on Earth

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