by ©2026 Sarah Becker
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. The same year President Richard Nixon [R-CA, 1969-1974] signed the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA]. According to leading environmental groups Nixon, a former Alexandria resident was “history’s second greenest President, second only to Theodore Roosevelt [R-NY, 1901-1908].”
On January 28, 1969—eight days after Nixon’s inauguration—a California off-shore oil rig ruptured. It dumped millions of gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean. When President Nixon, a California Quaker “walked along the black-stained beach he knew things had to change.”
In 2025 President Donald Trump’s Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced reforms to modernize the federal environmental review process, “Our nation’s broken permitting process has been abused for decades to block affordable, reliable energy production,” Burgum said. “President Trump is fulfilling his promise to eliminate unnecessary regulation. [His] reforms will help unleash America’s full potential as a global leader in innovation, growth and development.”
The revised National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA procedures, are pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order 14154, Unleashing American Energy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] became operational on December 2, 1970. “The Environmental Protection Agency is an independent agency,” Administrator William Ruckelshaus [R-IN, 1970-1973] explained. “It has no obligation to promote agriculture or commerce; only the critical obligation to protect and enhance the environment. It does not have a narrow charter…[I]t has a broad responsibility with regard to five environmental hazards: air and water pollution, solid waste disposal, radiation, and pesticides.” The Clean Air Act 0f 1970 became law on December 31.
The amount of future warming Earth experiences depends in part on how much carbon dioxide [CO2] and other Green House Gases [GHGs] humans emit. The term carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases industries like oil and gasoline release—Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) especially.
“I was privileged to lead the U.S. COP delegation in 2015,” John Kerry former U.S Senator [D, 1983-]; Secretary of State [2013-2017] and U.S. Special Envoy for Climate said in 2023, “The then 195 participating countries, plus the European Union, agreed that governments needed to do more to prevent the global average temperature from rising.'”
Unfortunately, President Trump prefers undeclared war [economic or other] to the reasonable regulation of oil, gasoline, and other natural resources. His bombastic power plays include Venezuela, Iran, and Denmark’s Greenland. Island. America’s ongoing war with Iran has been underway for weeks.
“President Trump opened the year with pledges to seize the Panama Canal, take control of Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America,” The New York Times reported in November 2025. “He is ending it by bombing boats from South America, stationing the world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Caribbean and exploring military options against Venezuela’s autocratic leader.”
From the White House, Trump’s 250 Corollary: “On December 2, 1823, the doctrine of American sovereignty was immortalized in prose when President James Monroe [the country’s fifth President] declared, before the Nation, a simple truth that has echoed throughout the ages, The United States will never waver in defense of our homeland, our interests, or the well-being of our citizens. Today, my Administration proudly reaffirms this promise under a new Trump Corollary to the [1823] Monroe Doctrine. That the American people—not foreign nations nor globalist institutions—will always control their own destiny in our hemisphere.” Monroe’s Presidency was known as the “era of good feelings.” Trump’s Corollary as the Donroe Doctrine.
John Kerry first criticized incoming President Trump’s shift in U.S. environmental policies in 2018. Also, a broad coalition of health and environmental groups, the American Public Health Association and Sierra Club included, have sued those Trump supporters who claim GHG’s do not threaten public health. Public health is a, if not the primary, justification for climate regulations.
The real gagger: The Environmental Defense Fund and Union of Concerned Scientists have filed lawsuits regarding the secret assembly of climate skeptics to undermine climate science reports.
It was in Trump’s second term that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth illegally changed his job title from Secretary of Defense to Secretary of War. Soon after, Hegseth began dropping bombs on Venezuelan cartel-types traveling in international waters. U.S surveillance remains strong, as Venezuela has not only a thriving drug trade, but also the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.
“There is no good reason why we should fear the future,” President Theodore Roosevelt professed in 1905. If others disagree? President Trump’s changes in environmental regulations have resulted in a reduction of EV sales, War-torn Iran recently closed the Strait of Hormuz; the Middle East shipping crisis will likely result in a historic rise in U.S. oil and gasoline prices.
Locally. Alexandria city has more people per square mile than any other jurisdiction in Virginia. Rather than develop mass transit thoughtfully, city politicians prefer piecemeal analyses: especially when discussing increases in housing stock.
Wake up America!! The time to make meaningful change grows shorter.
About the Author: Sarah Becker started writing for The Economist while a graduate student in England. Similar publications followed. She joined the Crier in 1996 while serving on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board. Her interest in antiquities began as a World Bank hire, with Indonesia’s need to generate hard currency. Balinese history, i.e. tourism provided the means. The New York Times describes Becker’s book, Off Your Duffs & Up the Assets, as “a blueprint for thousands of nonprofit managers.” A former museum director, SLAM’s saving grace Sarah received Alexandria’s Salute to Women Award in 2007. Email abitofhistory53@gmail.com