Less than two months ago, a series of wildfires swept across the Los Angeles area, killing at least 29 people and destroying thousands of structures. One LA city official described the event as one of the most devastating and terrifying nights. John Abatzoglou, a climate and fire scientist, described the conditions in California as a trifecta of dry, windy and warm — a perfect recipe for fire disasters.
Mere weeks after the LA wildfires, President Donald Trump took office, signing over 70 executive orders in his first month, more than any recent president has in their first 100 days. Among these were policies that ended the “forced” use of paper straws, expanded oil drilling, reduced federal spending on National Parks and sought to unleash Alaska’s “extraordinary resource potential.” After passing an executive order portraying paper straws as an infringement upon natural rights, Trump passed an executive order highlighting the economic potential of seafood, despite rising levels of microplastic contamination found in wild-caught fish.
I would be overstepping to speculate on the causes of the wildfires; however, I found ill-conceived the haste with which the executive orders, which pushed back environmental progress, were passed after the wildfires. I perceived the executive orders, many of which were promoted as methods of preserving traditional American values, portraying environmentalism as unrelated to the nation’s identity and a barrier to national prosperity. Not only do the orders seem to reflect a shift in recent policies related to addressing the issue of climate change, but are also characterized by several contradictions to the American values they seek to uphold.
While wildfires in California are not uncommon, the January 2025 fires were unusual, as the cooler temperatures and rainfall during the winter months usually keep wildfire activity low. Craig Clements, a climate scientist and director of wildfire study at San Jose State University, acknowledged the difficulties of definitively attributing each fire to climate change. However, the connection is significant given that these fires followed California’s hottest summer on record and aligned with past studies on climate-driven fire patterns.
Examining these policies from a perspective beyond contemporary politics, I found striking contradictions between the president’s environmental rhetoric and the nation’s history with environmentalism. Benjamin Franklin, one of the first embodiments of the “American Dream,” invented fuel-efficient stoves, chimneys, lamps and campaigned against water pollution and deforestation in Philadelphia. Thomas Cole, the leading American painter in the 19th century and founder of the Hudson River School, celebrated the beauty of American landscapes and a distinct national artistic identity while warning against the overdevelopment of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most defining writers in American literature, expressed the wisdom and fulfillment found in nature, inspiring Theodore Roosevelt’s establishment of national monuments and parks. Franklin, Cole, Emerson and Roosevelt are only a few leading American figures who shaped the nation’s political and cultural values and committed to conserving and appreciating the environment. The belief in the value of nature beyond natural resources and drawing inspiration from nature is a distinctly American value.
Alaska embodies nature’s splendor — glacial mountains, vast waters inhabited by whales, porpoises and seals and mountain regions nearly 126 million years old. It is home to diverse ecosystems that have thrived for millennia. However, recent executive orders seem to recast Alaska’s significance as a natural treasure to an unharvested economic resource. These orders define the value of Alaska solely through its materials, not the sublime beauty lauded by Emerson or Roosevelt’s vision for conservation. Trump has turned Alaska into an opportunity for development, drilling and exploitation of its wilderness.
Instead of moving towards solutions to the declining supply of natural resources, disruption of wildlife and deforestation, recent environmental policies seem to be taking a step backward, undermining critical efforts to preserve and restore our natural environment. If these recent executive orders fail to reflect America’s historical reverence for nature, what values and traditions are they truly seeking to uphold? Redefining our relationship with the environment solely in terms of materialistic gains may promise short-term financial growth — as Trump suggests — but this approach threatens the very essence of our national identity and compromises the ecological heritage that defines us. We must choose a path that honors our commitment to environmental stewardship rather than sacrificing it for fleeting wealth.
