Environmental Protection in America: Reviewing the Past and Looking Ahead to the Future of Nature

With “Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out US Climate Regulation” (New York Times, 2/10/26), has disruption, division and non-stop controversy in our country and the world reduced the focus on climate change and the environment? Not for the members of ClassACT’s working group. Please save the date and register for a crucial discussion and calls to action by experts in environmental history, law and policies.

As part of the broader ClassACT HR73 "Democracy@250" plans for the year 2026, the Environment & Climate Change Working Group will host a Conversation intended to 1) trace the history of the Anthropocene and environmental protection in the US 2) provide perspectives on the declining federal involvement in environmental issues and climate change 3) address developments in local, state, and global commitments in this arena, and 4) articulate actions that need to be taken for the protection of our environments as democracy continues to erode in the United States. The panel will feature Dr. Jason Clay ‘73, Executive Director & Senior Vice President at the World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Historian Dr. John McNeill from Georgetown University, American Historian of Science Dr. Naomi Oreskes from Harvard University, and Environmental law and Energy Policy Professor Dr. Sharon Tisher’ 73 from the University of Maine. Dr. W. John Kress ‘73, Botanist and Smithsonian Director of the Consortium for Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet, will moderate.