Trump’s War on Our Planet and Health

The administration’s assault on our environment and health is unlike any threat we’ve ever faced.

The following is a transcript of the video.

Rhea Suh, NRDC president: Over the past four and a half decades, presidents from both parties have furthered environmental protections designed to keep the American people safe and healthy. But President Trump and the Republican‑led Congress are poised to wipe out these essential safeguards.

America is now facing the worst assault against our environment and health in our history.

President Trump has pledged to cripple the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making it even harder to protect our natural resources—and, as a result, the well-being of all Americans.

Clean drinking water? Gone. President Trump vowed to eliminate EPA's Clean Water Rule, a critical rule that keeps contaminants out of drinking water supplies for one in three U.S. residents.

Clean air? Gone, too. His plans to weaken smog standards and reject the Clean Power Plan will give us dangerously dirty air and higher risks of heart attacks, asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and deadly heart and lung diseases.

Climate progress? Derailed. President Trump has called climate change a hoax and has pledged to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. Now, instead of taking a leading role in curbing climate change, the U.S. could fall behind some of the worst polluting nations.

There is not a single environmental standard, or regulation, or law that is not going to be challenged by this new administration.

If we care about the fate of our natural resources and all they support, if we care about American values of equity and justice for all people, if we care about leaving our children a livable world, it's on all of us, as citizens, to stand up to this threat.

onEarth Story

COVID-19 is revealing strengths—and weaknesses—that deserve our attention.

onEarth Story

Trump also kills 20 years of child health research and continues to neglect chemical safety.

Explainer

The biology of death caused by particulate matter.

Personal Action

President Trump and the Republican-led Congress are poised to wipe out crucial environmental safeguards. Here’s how you can join the fight.

Voices

Two brothers tell the story of how their mother died from eating peanut butter, all from a lack of food-safety inspections.

Personal Action

Sometimes the best way to turn your anger into action is to pick up the phone. Follow these tips to minimize your anxiety and maximize your impact.

Voices

As he took odd jobs to get by, Robin Tucker’s father developed 20 fatal tumors from being exposed to asbestos, a toxic mineral that is still legal in U.S. products—including children’s toys.

NRDC tracks the Trump administration’s assaults on the environment.

Voices

As America’s national monuments come under attack by President Trump, Los Angeleno Robert Garcia shares the story of his personal connection to San Gabriel.

onEarth Story

Climate science is under its fiercest attack yet. But one group has been countering the onslaught—by connecting with everyday Americans in their own communities.

What's At Stake

Tens of thousands of American families live in repeatedly flooded properties—and many feel like there’s no way out.

onEarth Story

Never forget: Carbon pollution causes climate change.

Personal Action

We know that you know that Trump’s assessment of the Paris Agreement is way off base. Here’s how to convince those who don’t.

Policy Primer

Let’s not forget what America looked like before we had the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Our rivers caught on fire, our air was full of smog, and it stank (literally).

Voices

The Trump administration’s review of national monuments threatens America’s culture and natural beauty.

Policy Primer

The incoming head of the EPA believes states should be in charge of their own environmental regulations. Been there, done that, got the oil-soaked T-shirt.

Policy Primer

Industrial polluters have gone to great lengths to stifle environmental advocacy, but their expansion of censorship laws has finally crossed a line for some federal judges.

Guide

The lowdown on the earth’s central environmental threat.

onEarth Story

Also, Administrator Scott Pruitt equates hard questions (and mustache doodles) with security threats.

Policy Primer

Trump likens our “inner cities” to war zones . . . then guts the programs geared to safeguard clean air and water for low-income communities of color.

Midwest Dispatch

This Southeast Side community has helped give a voice to the environmental justice movement. Now Trump’s budget cuts threaten to silence it.

Voices

U.S. veteran Paul A. Schwarz, Jr. died from eating a piece of cantaloupe in a fruit cup—all because of a lack of food-safety protections.

onEarth Story

Oil trains won’t get better brakes, air conditioners won’t get safer chemicals, and children lose their EPA advocate.

Join Us

When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports.