This episode of Going Green explores the seeds of an ideological shift on the environment born in the 1980s, marked a period of materialism and individualism.

The episode highlights the environmental justice movement, a fight for land reform and preservation of the Amazon rainforest, the founding of the Federalist Society, which aimed to shift the ideological balance of the American legal establishment to the right, and an internal opposition towards the environmental movement within President George H.W. Bush's administration.

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Episode Extras - Photos, videos, sources and links to additional content I found during my research.

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Episode Credits:

Production by Gābl Media

Written by Dimitrius Lynch

Executive Produced by Dimitrius Lynch

Audio Engineering and Sound Design by Jeff Alvarez

Archival Audio courtesy of: Have You Seen This?, DrBobBullard, Andrew Revkin, The Cato Institute, TheBushLibrary, C-SPAN Sununu, NBC News

Get ready for another incredible Lifestyles, your VIP journey into the lives and loves of

today's winners who really know how to enjoy the great things of life.

2

It was March 31st, 1984 when Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous first aired.

3

The show featured the extravagant homes and lifestyles of wealthy entertainers, athletes,

socialites, and other powerful people around the world.

4

Each week, the British -born host, Robin Leach, spotlighted the eccentricities and

excesses of the rich and famous.

5

In the decade of excess,

6

It inspired a generation to get their version of the lifestyle.

7

Leach himself once shared that parents would thank him, expressing that their previously

rebellious children watched lifestyles and would say, I want to be like that.

8

They were inspired to focus on school to get into a good college.

9

Businessmen also shared their gratitude with him for the motivation.

10

With society embracing materialism and individualism like never before, and a seemingly

booming economy for some, the sense of financial freedom and prosperity for many Americans

11

manifested in various ways.

12

From lavish parties to extravagant spending on designer clothes and luxury cars.

13

Of course, this wasn't the reality for everyone.

14

Census family income data shows that the era of shared prosperity in the United States

15

The data shows that the Reagan era economic policies, including marginal tax rate cuts,

favored high income earners.

16

Hourly wages were falling from weakened unions, but the stock market was booming.

17

From 1981,

18

to 1990, the bottom 20 % of earners lost 0 .1 % annually, while the top 20 % gained 2 .1 %

annually.

19

The top 5 % of families fared even better, increasing their income at the rate of 3 .2 %

annually.

20

Cuts to government programs that supported public welfare negatively impacted low -income

earners.

21

This period, particularly the late 80s,

22

also saw a rapid rise in crime, reaching the highest rate in recorded crime data history

by the early 90s.

23

And homelessness and reports of child abuse soared during the decade, overwhelming social

service agencies.

24

But many high earners escaped these realities by using their increasing wealth to insulate

themselves in new neighborhoods that provided their version of lifestyle of the rich and

25

famous.

26

Prior to the 1950s, homes were often multi -generational, granted from parent to child.

27

They were typically built with quality construction methods and materials intended to

withstand the test of time.

28

On average, homes were approximately 900 square feet in size.

29

What emerged from the 1980s was a new type of sprawling suburb that accommodated

increasingly large, gluttonous, in -your -face, energy -demanding homes

30

referred to as McMansions.

31

The term McMansion was coined sometime in the early 80s, as exemplified in the 1985 book

Braces, Gymsuits, and Early Morning Seminary, a youthquake survivor manual, where author

32

Joni Wynn Hilton writes, the McMansion, by the way, is really just the largest house in

the neighborhood, end quote.

33

The term would be later popularized in 1993 by architect and author James Howard Kuntzler,

34

in his book, The Geography of Nowhere, the rise and decline of America's man -made

landscape.

35

It would be further defined in 2013 by Virginia Savage McAllister with the more neutral

36

with Kate Wagner's McMansion Hell Vlog.

37

Of course, the Mick in McMansion

38

associates the generic quality of luxury homes with that of mass -produced fast food by

Evo King McDonald's.

39

The McMansion exists to separate, then celebrate the people who are wealthier than

everybody else.

40

Typically 2 ,500 square feet or more, everything you needed was inside your home.

41

This form of development turned inward, away from the community -mindedness of the post

-war suburbs, and with controlled access to the

42

Quote community, the gates slam shut, visually and physically establishing a barrier

between wealth and the rest of the world.

43

Aesthetically, there are some key characteristics to McMansions.

44

As I mentioned, some traditional styles were based in hierarchical systems.

45

To display this wealth, McMansions mostly borrowed these forms to create replica French

chateaus, Georgian estates, Mediterranean villas,

46

and palatial palaces.

47

Now as architects jockeyed for ideological consensus in the postmodernist period, their

influence on residential architecture dwindled.

48

But developers and builders filled the void to replicate these styles and feed the growing

appetite for excess.

49

However, despite the goal of opulence, the homes were often cheaply made with low quality

materials and the architectural styles, elements, and details lacked coherence and design

50

integrity.

51

Bulky, inefficient, and disproportionate building forms were capped with complex, poorly

designed roofs that invited water ponding and intrusion.

52

A desire for excess invited expansive, inefficient spaces, double -height echoey rooms,

and odd wasteful layouts that were a drain on materials, land, and energy.

53

The McMansion is the complete opposite of the growing environmental movement around the

world.

54

The thing is,

55

According to psychologists, wanting more is human nature.

56

Humans are biologically wired to experience and want to remedy dissatisfaction, which

leads to buying more things, to want to win at the expense of others, and to think of

57

ourselves to the detriment of other living things and our planet.

58

That innate desire for more is the crux of the environmental tension that we find

ourselves in.

59

I'm Demetrius Lynch, and this is Going Green.

60

The paper ran a little anonymous item, chilling little item, said, soon here in Akre there

will be a 200 megaton bomb will explode.

61

This will have important national repercussions.

62

Important people will be harmed when this is done.

63

You can be sure that the bearer of this news is trustworthy.

64

And then two weeks later Chico was murdered.

65

Are you a lifetime?

66

No, no, no, no.

67

I do get impatient at times, but it lasts only about 10 seconds.

68

In the previous episode, we explored the connection between geopolitical strife and the

69

We highlighted Jimmy Carter's energy policies, Reagan's deregulation error, and the

complex interplay between politics, environmentalism, and global challenges.

70

If you haven't listened to that episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to all the

episodes of this series in order.

71

During the late 1980s, Americans were inspired to attain wealth and luxury, reflecting the

era's materialism and individualism.

72

Yet, the period also saw growing income inequality, with the wealthiest benefiting from

economic policies, while lower -income earners faced challenges like falling wages and

73

reduced public support.

74

Growing environmental concerns led to the environmental justice movement,

75

and global efforts like a push for forest reserves in the Amazon and the formation of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC.

76

However, political and business interests, particularly during the Bush administration,

began to challenge environmental efforts, framing them as anti -business and opening the

77

door to skepticism.

78

And I'll get into all of that after the break.

79

Episode 6 Victory Runs Through the Law After the 1988 presidential election, a Gallup poll

showed that the environment was the number one concern of the voting public.

80

That same year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, was formed.

81

Its purpose was to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human

activities.

82

The Reagan administration had concerns that independent scientists would have too much

influence.

83

So two international organizations, the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, a

science -based non -governmental organization, and the United Nations Environment Program,

84

or UNEP, a governance organization, as parent organizations formed the IPCC as an

intergovernmental body.

85

Scientists take part in the IPCC as both experts and government representatives.

86

The IPCC produces reports backed by all leading relevant scientists.

87

Member governments must also endorse the reports by consensus agreement.

88

So the IPCC is both a scientific body and an organization of governments.

89

Through the assessment of peer -reviewed scientific literature, the body examines the

impacts of climate change,

90

and options for dealing with it.

91

The IPCC issued its first assessment report in 1990.

92

The report identified that certain emissions resulting from human activities are

substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, resulting in,

93

on average, additional warming of the Earth's surface.

94

They calculated with confidence

95

that CO2 had been responsible for over half the enhanced greenhouse effect.

96

They also predicted that under a quote business as usual scenario, global mean temperature

would increase by about 0 .3 degrees Celsius per decade during the 21st century.

97

They judged that global mean surface air temperature had increased by 0 .3 to 0 .6 over

the last 100 years.

98

What was less discussed was how the effects from human activities that are contributing to

environmental harm are inequitably distributed.

99

Between the 1910s and 1970s, approximately 6 million black Americans migrated from the

South to the North, Midwest, and West, transforming American cities.

100

For reference, in the 1910s, 90 % of the black population in the U .S.

101

lived in the South.

102

and by the 70s, 47 % were in the north and west.

103

However, federal policies of the 30s limited where they could live.

104

Simultaneously, subsidized housing developments, which only admitted white Americans, drew

some white Americans and their income out of urban areas.

105

There was actually an active effort by realtors to engage in an effort called

blockbusting.

106

where if a black family moved into an urban neighborhood, realtors would fear monger and

would warn white homeowners that their property values would soon drop, encouraging a mass

107

exodus.

108

After that income was drawn from urban communities, those areas were then deemed high risk

for the banking industry.

109

Those left behind, even in communities that remain integrated with low income white

residents,

110

were essentially blacklisted and unable to qualify for loans or mortgage assistance.

111

In the case where a black family could afford to move into a suburb and happened to find a

community without race restricting covenants, they tended to face a violent resistance.

112

In 1951, for example, one black family tried to move into a suburb of Cicero, Illinois.

113

They were driven out by a mob of 4 ,000 white protesters that set their property on fire.

114

Black Americans had little choice of where they could live.

115

Across the country, as black families moved in, white families moved out.

116

What followed was the introduction of enterprise zones.

117

Enterprise zones were introduced in the US in the 1970s, promoted as an effort to slow the

departure of people and businesses from urban areas to the suburbs.

118

Other designated areas were sites that struggle from natural disasters.

119

These zones are said to create jobs, boost tax revenues, and increase economic activity.

120

However, the participating businesses are often granted favorable tax rates and regulatory

exemptions that, depending on the industry, could be harmful to the surrounding community.

121

Robert D.

122

Bullard, sociologist and environmental activist, often referred to as the father of

environmental justice, spent four decades making the case that environmental harms have

123

disproportionately affected communities of color across the United States.

124

Bullard became interested in environmentalism in the late 1970s.

125

While he was teaching sociology at Texas Southern University,

126

Residents of a black middle -class neighborhood in Houston, Texas found out that the state

was going to permit a solid waste facility in their community.

127

The residents questioned why was it being placed here and not in the white neighborhoods

nearby.

128

Bullert was approached to collect and parse data on the matter.

129

He found that 14 of the city's 17 industrial waste sites, accounting for over 80 % of the

city's waste,

130

were located in black neighborhoods, though only 25 % of Houston's population were black

at the time.

131

Bullard's findings were the first to identify that environmentally harmful infrastructure

was more likely to end up in places where minority populations lived.

132

There were lots of struggles around pesticides and farm workers, around communities that

are struggling against highways being built through their communities.

133

and with petrochemical plants, et cetera.

134

This is Dr.

135

Robert Bullard.

136

But it was not until Warren County, or that PCB landfill, that toxic waste landfill was

placed in the middle of this predominantly black county.

137

And residents in that community said no.

138

And we started to get people from all over the country, led by Reverend Ben Chavis, who at

the time was the...

139

executive director of the Commission for Racial Justice at the United Church of Christ

that began to galvanize people and attracted lots of folks to Warren County and to protest

140

that landfill and to talk about this whole idea of environmental injustice and

environmental racism.

141

And once we started to see people actually going to jail, over 500 people went to jail

over the siting of that landfill.

142

So it became not just an environmental issue.

143

it became a civil rights issue and a human rights issue.

144

And that's when you start to get people from all over the country, African Americans and

Latinos and Native Americans, Asian, Pacific Islanders, to start to think about this whole

145

idea of everybody has a right to live in an environment that is free from pollution.

146

And no community should become the dumping grounds.

147

And so I think that's, you know, that particular moment in history in 1982,

148

where this shot heard around the world of environmental racism and this black community

being dumped on, being targeted, and people saying, we have a right to live in a clean and

149

healthy environment.

150

That's when the whole idea of environmental justice as a national movement came into

effect.

151

Environmental justice aimed to address the issues that arise when poor or marginalized

communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from

152

which they do not benefit.

153

During the 1980s, Bullard extended his research to four other black communities in

Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia, and Dallas, Texas.

154

He found that even controlling for economic status

155

Black neighborhoods were far more likely than white ones to be located within the vicinity

of landfills, chemical plants, smelters, and other environmental hazards.

156

In 1983, a federal report confirmed what he already knew.

157

Bullert became an activist for environmental justice, and in 1992, both he and clergyman

Benjamin Chavez, another leading figure in the movement, were asked to advise the incoming

158

administration for President Bill Clinton

159

on how to advance the cause of environmental justice.

160

In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12898 on Environmental Justice,

which mandated that federal agencies address the disproportionate environmental and health

161

impacts on minority and low -income populations.

162

The order legitimized the environmental justice movement, but lacked strict enforcement

mechanisms.

163

Over the years,

164

Its impact fluctuated with attempts to weaken its focus on race under the Bush

administration and a resurgence under President Obama.

165

Despite increased awareness, significant progress in implementing substantial

environmental justice policies remains limited today, and many communities still face

166

exposure to environmental hazards and lack essential benefits.

167

As Bullert was expanding his research throughout the US in the 80s, in Brazil, Chico

Mendez, a labor leader and conservationist, fought to defend the interests of rubber tree

168

tappers in the Amazonian state of Acre, calling for land reform and preservation of the

Amazon rainforest.

169

Well, his grandfather and his father were both rubber tappers also.

170

Rubber tappers go out into the forest every day before dawn and they take a circular

trail.

171

eight miles or maybe 10 miles long.

172

And each rubber tree that they pass, they slash the bark, just a little cut diagonal

slash, and they continue to the next tree and the next and the next.

173

And they position a little tin cup beneath each slash.

174

This is Andrew Revkin, a journalist focused on environmental and human sustainability and

author of The Burning Season.

175

In this conversation with historian and radio host Studs Terkel,

176

he shares insights into Chico Mendes' story.

177

for really one of the important bases for the industrial revolution.

178

Tires, gaskets and steam engines, insulation for electrical wiring, were all came from

forest trees.

179

And these tappers, they evolved this lifestyle that was really balanced with the forest

around them.

180

If you tap a tree too much, the tree dies.

181

Behind Charles Goodyear's development of the vulcanization process in 1839,

182

Natural rubber could be modified to harden and withstand extreme temperature variations.

183

This allowed natural rubber to be processed into solid products such as tires and dipped

goods such as surgical gloves.

184

Until the first decade of the 20th century, 90 % of natural rubber originated from Brazil.

185

But in 1876, Henry Wickham, an English author and aspiring rubber expert, smuggled 70

186

thousand seeds to London and Southeast Asia.

187

Despite an industry boom behind the growing car market, Brazilian rubber tappers faced a

number of challenges.

188

By the early 20th century, there was rising competition.

189

New mass production harvesting techniques were well funded by British and Dutch colonial

authorities, and favorable weather in Southeast Asia allowed for year -round tapping.

190

Brazil's market share and prices declined,

191

while working conditions worsened behind an indentured servitude structure under middleman

ranchers.

192

At the time, a military government that had control over Brazil perceived the Amazon as a

vulnerability for a tax.

193

The military theorists decided they wanted to, as one put it, flood the Amazon with

civilization.

194

And they did this by starting to build a road network.

195

They did it by doling out tax breaks,

196

low -interest loans, all sorts of financial benefits for cattle ranchers to move up there.

197

Now Brazil, historically, cattle ranchers have been the pioneers.

198

They're the ones who settle a territory first, and then come the farmers, and then come

the businessmen, and then comes civilization.

199

In 1980s, Brazilian tappers were expelled from the land that was then sold, logged, and

burned for cattle pasture.

200

Defending the tappers' rights, Mendes helped organize the Chapuri Rural Workers Union,

later becoming its president.

201

The workers' struggle soon united with resistance to widespread deforestation, as Mendes

and other activists stood in front of tractors and chainsaws to impede the destruction.

202

In 1985, Mendez and other leaders founded the National Council of Rubber Tappers in

Brasilia, and Mendez soon became the spokesperson for tappers throughout the country.

203

He emphasized the need to establish forest reserves for sustainable extraction to benefit

laborers and indigenous communities.

204

By 1987, the National Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense Fund, who successfully

fought in the courts for a US ban on DDT,

205

invited Mendez to attend the annual conference of the Inter -American Development Bank, or

IDB, in Washington, D .C.

206

He spoke to members of Congress about an IDB -funded road project in Accra that threatened

the rainforest and its inhabitants.

207

Both the IDB and the World Bank subsequently endorsed the idea of establishing extractive

reserves.

208

Vowing to international pressure in 1988,

209

The Brazilian government reclaimed forest land to create the first extractive reserve, a

publicly owned, sustainable use protected area in Brazil.

210

Unfortunately, Chico Mendes' growing influence would ultimately lead to his murder.

211

disappropriated by the government and turned into a reserve.

212

But at the same time, anyone who doubts that there are others in Acre who are also in on

it need only read the local paper that was owned by right -wing ranchers.

213

Ojo Branco is name of the paper.

214

And two weeks before Mendez was killed, little more than two weeks, the paper ran a little

anonymous item, chilling little item, said, soon here in Acre there will be a 200 -megaton

215

bomb will explode.

216

This will have important national repercussions.

217

Important people will be harmed when this is done.

218

You can be sure that the bearer of this news is trustworthy.

219

And then two weeks later Chico was murdered.

220

The 1980s were marked by a strong ideological shift, where personal freedom and equality

were now in opposition.

221

This oppositional relationship challenged the health of society and our environment by

making life a zero -sum game in the minds of some.

222

In the US, the next step was to solidify the growing ideology within institutions that

would have far -reaching power.

223

Inspired by this growing ideology,

224

and the election of Ronald Reagan, a few conservative law students at Yale Law School,

Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School sensed an opportunity.

225

In 1982, they formed a student association with the purpose to, quote, promote the

principles that the state exists to preserve freedom.

226

The separation of powers is central to our Constitution.

227

and that it is the duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be."

Historically, the U .S.

228

Supreme Court played a crucial role in unifying American society by addressing

foundational questions about the relationship between the federal government and regional

229

governments, powers, and checks and balances.

230

During the mid to late 19th century, it used the Commerce Clause to regulate the economy,

231

Then the due process and equal protection clauses in the early to mid 20th century to

protect individuals and corporations from arbitrary government actions, extend civil

232

liberties and addressing racial discrimination.

233

The posture of saying what the law is, not what it should be, undoes these rights that

have been gained since the court's evolution.

234

In the case of the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency

235

and similar agencies, for example, would be stripped of their authority as they would not

be allowed to create rules for private conduct.

236

On the last weekend of April 1982, the students held a three -day symposium at Yale

University for a collection of the most notable right -leaning scholars, judges, and

237

Department of Justice officials.

238

The effort was led by Lee Lieberman and David McIntosh from University of Chicago Law.

239

and Stephen Calabresi from Yale Law, who can be heard here later discussing the structure

of the Constitution.

240

It makes sense in talking about the constitutional text to talk first about the structural

Constitution, the pre -Bill of Rights Constitution, and the grants of power it makes to

241

Congress, and then second to talk about restraints on congressional power and state power

in the Bill of Rights and in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment.

242

I think the Constitution's primary guarantee of individual liberty comes from the fact

that it sets up a complex federal republic with an elaborate system of checks and

243

balances, which makes it hard for transient democratic majorities to take away individual

liberties or property.

244

The point is so well made by James Madison in his various Federalist papers that I think

it's sufficient to just mention Madison on this subject.

245

since I'm sure you all know his arguments very well.

246

The next thing that's important about the text of the Constitution, in my opinion, is that

it creates explicitly a federal government of limited and enumerated powers.

247

The seeds of the symposium began two years earlier when a classroom of 88 first -year law

students was asked if they voted for Reagan.

248

Calabrese, a student in the class, was struck by the fact that only two people raised

their hands.

249

He believed that either the student body was really that ideologically imbalanced or many

were reluctant to share conservative preferences.

250

In a later interview with the ABA Journal, he said, In this tilted environment, Lieberman

251

McIntosh and Calabrese reportedly saw themselves as a resistance movement.

252

Calabrese also once shared, At the symposium, they argued for a more originalist reading

of the Constitution.

253

One of the speakers, Ted Olson,

254

then an assistant attorney general in the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel declared, sense

that we are at one of those points in history where the pendulum may be beginning to swing

255

in another direction.

256

Speeches and side conversations identified that conservatives have been outgunned at the

federal level.

257

The solution, according to Morton Blackwell, president of the Leadership Institute,

258

and a long -time organizer of young conservatives was to study how to win.

259

his speech, he shared,

260

But that is not the way the real world works.

261

He identified a to -do list emphasizing that the path to victory ran through the law,

through the judiciary.

262

to the right people into the study of law.

263

How to get into the right law school.

264

How to succeed as a conservative in law school.

265

Law student participation in politics and government.

266

How to get better people on law faculties.

267

How to get a good clerking job.

268

How to become a judge.

269

How to make sure the right people get to be judges.

270

What arose from the symposium was the Federalist Society, an organization that is

generally recognized as the leading representative and vehicle of the conservative legal

271

movement.

272

The goal has since been to advance conservative legal scholarship and to shift the

ideological balance of the American legal establishment to the right, including individual

273

liberty, traditional values, the rule of law,

274

the sanctity of private property and the free enterprise system, federalism and states'

rights, limited government, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and freedom of

275

speech.

276

The Federalist Society reportedly does not lobby for or endorse legislation, policies, or

political candidates.

277

Instead, through its local and national conferences, symposia, and debates,

278

It provides a forum to establish conservative legal doctrine as well as a professional

network for conservative lawyers in government service and private practice.

279

However, it must be noted that early donors included the Scaife Foundation, created by

Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire, principal heir to the Mellon Banking Oil and

280

Aluminum Fortune, and the owner and publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, and the

Koch Family Foundations,

281

created by the Koch family who own the majority of Koch industries, an oil, gas, paper,

and chemical conglomerate in the US.

282

Other donors have included Google, Chevron, and the Mercer Family Foundation created by

Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager and computer scientist and major conservative

283

political donor.

284

The significance of the organization and ultimate impact on the environment wouldn't be

fully appreciated and understood for decades.

285

Despite the growing ideological shift, by the end of the 80s, the environment was the

number one concern of the voting public.

286

Presidential candidate George H .W.

287

Bush, who had served two terms as vice president under President Reagan, filed a major

break from his own administration to be the environmental president.

288

On August 31st, 1988, in a campaign speech, he said,

289

Those who think we are powerless to do anything about the greenhouse effect are forgetting

about the White House effect.

290

In my first year in office, I will convene a global conference on the environment at the

White House.

291

It will include the Soviets, the Chinese.

292

The agenda will be clear.

293

We will talk about global warming.

294

As the 41st president of the United States, Bush signed into law the Global Change

Research Act

295

of 1990, which established an interagency group to improve understanding of global change,

submit assessments to the president at least every four years, and provide recommendations

296

for collaboration with the federal government and foreign nations.

297

On February 5, 1990, he addressed the IPCC to convey his administration's posture on the

environment.

298

I hope to underscore concern, my country's and my own personal concern, about your work,

about environmental stewardship, and to reaffirm our commitment to finding responsible

299

solutions.

300

It's both an honor and a pleasure to be the first American president to speak to this

organization as its work takes shape.

301

And you're called upon to deliver recommendations which strike a difficult and yet

critical international bargain, a convergence between global environmental policy and

302

global economic policy, a bargain where both perspectives benefit and neither is

compromised.

303

As experts,

304

You understand that economic growth and environmental integrity need not be contradictory

priorities.

305

One reinforces and complements the other.

306

Each, a partner, both are crucial.

307

A sound environment is the basis for the continuity and quality of human life and

enterprise.

308

Clearly, strong economies allow nations to fulfill the obligations of environmental

stewardship.

309

And where there is economic strength, such protection is possible.

310

But where there is poverty, the competition for resources gets much tougher.

311

Stewardship suffers.

312

For all of these reasons, I sincerely believe we must do everything in our power to

promote global cooperation.

313

For environmental protection and economic growth, for intelligent management of our

natural resources,

314

and efficient use of our industrial capacity and for sustainable and environmentally

sensitive development around the world.

315

His most significant contribution in terms of environmental policy was the ability to end

a decade -long struggle to cut acid rain.

316

Acid rain is an unusually acidic precipitation caused by human activities, mostly the

combustion of fossil fuels.

317

It can harm ecosystems, buildings, and human health.

318

At the time, it was devastating the lakes and forests of the northeastern United States.

319

The administration worked closely with the Environmental Defense Fund and lawmakers from

320

The sweeping legislation helped turn back the effects of acid rain, addressed a host of

air pollution issues, and strengthened the Clean Air Act.

321

The cap -and -trade system that he championed for the amendment set a limit on emissions

and created a market for companies to buy and sell allowances.

322

By 2018, these actions reduced national average levels of sulfur dioxide pollution that

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Internationally, an alternative method was explored by Finland in 1990 and Sweden in 1991,

when they took it a step further to implement a carbon tax.

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This approach levies the tax on the carbon emissions from producing goods and services.

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Since the carbon tax was implemented 30 years ago, Sweden's carbon emissions have been

declining while there has been steady economic growth.

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However, numerous exemptions have limited its effects.

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If markets had the incentives and penalties to price in the likely future costs of climate

change, it's plausible that the world would have acted decades ago.

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However, discourse around environment became politicized.

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and much of the business community invested into disputing the science and the scientific

consensus.

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This was exemplified in President Bush's White House Chief of Staff, John Henry Sununu, an

engineer, academic, and pro -business conservative politician who didn't believe in

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climate change.

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John Henry Sununu was a former governor of New Hampshire, father of John E.

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Sununu, the former United States Senator from New Hampshire,

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and Christopher Sununu, the current governor of New Hampshire.

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I am honored and gratified at the opportunity to serve as chief of staff.

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I am eager to take up the challenge.

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It is going to be, I think, very important few years.

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I'm very aware that my principal responsibilities will be to make sure that the new

president gets the information and the tools that he needs to make the policies that

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dictate the programs that will go forth from the White House.

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I am also very aware that once those policies are made, have a responsibility to try and

get them implemented as effectively as they can.

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Clearly, the challenges this country has have to be dealt with on a bipartisan basis, and

I recognize that, and I look forward to working with both Republican and Democrat

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leadership in the House and Senate.

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one of the nice things I feel about having the announcement this early is that I will get

a chance to begin to

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spend some time over there working out the kind of agenda that's necessary to get good

cooperation.

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I'll open it up to questions.

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He was known to be an intelligent but abrasive man.

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After entering politics, even in the GOP dominated state of New Hampshire, he reportedly

had a temper and went out of his way to exert his power.

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Are you hot tempered?

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I do get impatient at times, but it lasts only about 10 seconds.

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Bush selected him to bring a quote, refreshing new perspective to his White House.

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Do you see yourself as a conservative voice within the White House?

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I am considered a conservative Republican governor.

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I certainly am not going to change my personal philosophy, but I recognize going into the

White House, my responsibility is to move policy in the direction that the president sets.

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If I have an opportunity to speak with the

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conservative perspective as those issues come along, I will do that.

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But I do understand that my principal responsibility is to serve the president who has the

mandate of the people to take charge.

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The White House Chief of Staff is the most senior political appointee in the White House

and is widely recognized as a position with great power and influence due to daily contact

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with the President of the United States and control of the Executive Office of the

President of the United States.

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Notably, between Bush's campaign speech about global warming and the planned global

conference on the environment at the White House, his goals for the meeting significantly

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changed in tone.

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China, who accounted for 27 % of total emissions that year, was not invited, and the

briefing papers for cabinet members warned them not to use the phrases global warming or

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greenhouse effect.

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Interestingly, looking back at Bush's speech to the IPCC, neither were mentioned there as

well.

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You can actually see him laboring to avoid the phrases at times.

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Sununu's influence was significant, often opposing initiatives proposed by the EPA.

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In November 1989, there was a proposed 67 -nation commitment to freeze carbon dioxide

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Sununu rejected the move as premature and costly.

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While the Bush administration did have landmark environmental legislation passed, Sununu's

skepticism and influence represented a major internal challenge to the environmental

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agenda.

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He has been singled out as a force that started coordinated efforts to confuse the public

on the topic of climate change and changing it from an urgent, nonpartisan, and

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unimpeachable issue to a political one.

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Lines were being drawn to malign the environmental movement as an anti -business and

hindrance to economic prosperity.

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With a peek into a world like lifestyles of the rich and famous, many would become open to

the message.

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Although the environment was the number one concern for Americans in 1988, the right

influence or enough doubt could rapidly shift public sentiment.

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What added fuel to the pushback on the environmental movement

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is that by the end of his term, George H .W.

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Bush's reelection hopes were dashed when he broke from his infamous promise delivered

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Read my lips.

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no, no.

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Under pressure to strike a budget deal with the Democratic -controlled Congress, Bush

relented and agreed to increase the marginal tax rate.

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Anti -tax conservatives were furious.

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The sense of betrayal went on to spur a toxic transformation of the political landscape

and the rise of culture wars in the U .S.

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With this setting, society was ripe for manipulation.

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Fossil fuel

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and allied interests poured even more money into efforts to not only combat the

environmental movement, but to link it to the liberal agenda, essentially immediately

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weakening support by half.

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When Republicans retook Congress in 1994, the incoming freshman class, whose political

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uncompromising attitude towards Democrats.

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and subsequently the environment.

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In a polarized discourse, what chance is there for information to be disseminated in good

faith, let alone received with an open mind?

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Next time on Going Green.

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Thanks for listening.

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Going Green is a Spaces Podcast story brought to you by Lines.

394

If you learned something from this episode or think it would resonate with the print,

please share it and rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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It really helps others find the show.

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If you have a question, want to submit a correction, or just share whatever is on your

mind, I'd love to hear from you.

397

You can do that at lines .studio slash podcasts.

398

That's L -Y.

399

nes .studio slash podcast and listening to my wrap up episode to hear my response.

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If you're looking for similar content, Spaces is a proud member of GableMedia, a digital

media platform where you can find even more content like this.

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Visit gablemedia .com.

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That's G -A -B -L media .com.

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And before I go, if you want to see additional photos, videos, clips, and other content

that I found during my research,

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you can visit lions .studio slash podcast.

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Talk soon.