Donald Trump’s Record-Breaking Race to Wreck the Planet

Donald Trump and his cronies should be so proud of themselves. 
 
There certainly were prior administrations that intentionally or ignorantly advanced policies that caused massive harm to both public and ecological health. In a forthcoming book on the history of U.S. law and the environment, Brigham Daniels and I identify a long history of damaging actions by presidents, often with the support of Congress and acceptance by the judiciary — including the destruction of once plentiful species and even entire ecosystems. 

This was the case in what we identify as the Allocation era (1781-1890) and Modernization era (1920-1960) of U.S. environmental law. Following each of these periods — first in the Progressive era and then in the Environmental era — democratic institutions adopted a cascade of local, state and federal laws, developed to eliminate or at least reduce the harms caused or facilitated by law.