What Trump’s budget proposal says about his environmental values

The White House proposal represents a dramatic retreat from the national goals of clean air and clean water enacted in federal laws over the past 55 years.

Janet McCabe, Visiting Professor and Distinguished Scholar of Law, Visiting Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University • conversation
June 27, 2025 ~12 min

More than half of US teens have had at least one cavity, but fluoride programs in schools help prevent them – new research

Fluoride varnish, easily and quickly applied to a child’s teeth, is an affordable and effective way to help prevent cavities.

Shillpa Naavaal, Associate Professor of Pediatric Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University • conversation
June 25, 2025 ~6 min


Stripping federal protection for clean water harms just about everyone, especially already vulnerable communities

These aren’t abstract problems. They’re happening right now, in real communities, to real people.

Jeremy Orr, Adjunct Professor of Law, Michigan State University • conversation
April 22, 2025 ~9 min

Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

Some restrictions prevent loosening of existing environmental standards for clean air and water. Other rules can be changed – though only through a challenging and multistep democratic process.

Stan Meiburg, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability, Wake Forest University • conversation
April 21, 2025 ~10 min

Lawsuits seeking to address climate change have promise but face uncertain future

In the battle to slow climate change, local and state governments, as well as citizens, have taken to the courts. Their results have varied, but the cases keep coming.

Hannah Wiseman, Professor of Law, Penn State • conversation
April 18, 2025 ~11 min

Companies will still face pressure to manage for climate change, even as government rolls back US climate policy

Corporate decisions made in boardrooms and through initiatives with nonprofits have created an important kind of private climate governance.

Zdravka Tzankova, Associate Professor of the Practice in Climate & Environmental Studies, Vanderbilt University • conversation
April 11, 2025 ~10 min

EPA must use the best available science − by law − but what does that mean?

The Trump administration’s job cuts and advisory board changes at the agency won’t change those rules, as a former EPA science adviser explains.

H. Christopher Frey, Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University • conversation
April 7, 2025 ~8 min

As federal environmental priorities shift, sovereign Native American nations have their own plans

Tribal governance takes a long view based in Native peoples’ deep history with these lands.

Alyssa Kreikemeier, Assistant Professor of History, University of Idaho • conversation
March 28, 2025 ~11 min


Revoking EPA’s endangerment finding – the keystone of US climate policies – won’t be simple and could have unintended consequences

The Trump administration’s goal is to roll back rules limiting planet-warming greenhouse gases emissions from power plants, vehicles and oil and gas production, but it could backfire for industry.

Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law Emeritus, Vermont Law & Graduate School • conversation
March 19, 2025 ~9 min

Environmental protection laws still apply even under Trump’s national energy emergency − here’s why

President Trump’s national energy emergency declaration does not qualify as an emergency that would exempt energy projects from environmental laws and regulations.

Albert C. Lin, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis • conversation
March 13, 2025 ~8 min

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