The Fight to Protect the Environment and Our Democracy Is One and the Same
Photo credit: Vincent Alban of the The New York Times. Demonstrators march to protest the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis on Friday. A temperature of around minus 10 degrees on Friday did little to slow protests around the Twin Cities, with businesses closing, workers and students staying home, and demonstrators demanding that federal immigration agents depart.
By Todd Steiner, Founder of Turtle Island Restoration Network
Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) stands in solidarity with those legally opposing the unlawful actions of the Trump administration and with the peaceful protesters in Minnesota and across the nation who are demanding accountability and an end to the militarization of our communities.
The recent killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents mark a dangerous escalation in the assault on democracy in this country. And they are not isolated tragedies. Immediately after the events, the Trump Administration moved to demonize the victims and blatantly misrepresent the plain facts of these tragic events. This behavior represents a grave threat to democracy.
Without the rule of law, environmental protection is impossible. When due process collapses, so too does the ability of citizens to defend the people, wildlife, and ecosystems we love. As Benjamin Franklin warned during the founding of this nation: “If we don’t hang together, surely we will hang separately.”
Militarization and Environmental Destruction Are Not Separate Crises
The Trump administration’s use of military tactics in civilian settings must be viewed alongside its systematic dismantling of environmental protections. These are not independent developments. Together, they form a deliberate strategy to weaken public oversight, silence scientific expertise, disregard the rule of law, and bypass democratic and legislative processes.
This is how authoritarianism advances: by eroding accountability while stripping away the safeguards that protect both people and the planet.
An All-Out Attack on Science
TIRN unequivocally denounces the administration’s assault on science and its removal from decision-making that directly affects climate stability and biodiversity. Science is not ideology. It is the foundation of sound environmental policy – and silencing it places lives, ecosystems, and future generations at risk.
Equally alarming is the systematic censorship of science: defunding research, muzzling government scientists, and erasing scientific findings and historical context from our national parks, museums, and government websites. When knowledge is suppressed, democracy itself is weakened.
Wildlife Under Siege
At the same time, wildlife protections are being dismantled at breathtaking speed. The Trump administration has moved to gut the Endangered Species Act, open marine sanctuaries to industrial extraction, accelerate offshore oil extraction, and green-light deep-sea mining. Decades of progress – hard-won efforts that brought species like sea turtles and whales back from the brink of extinction—are now being placed on the chopping block.
This is not deregulation. It is a rollback of our moral and ethical responsibilities.
We Will Not Be Intimidated
TIRN is an advocacy organization. We challenge federal agencies when environmental laws are violated, and we exercise our democratic rights to influence public policy—sometimes through litigation, sometimes through protests and rallies. That is not extremism. That is democracy in action.
We will not be intimidated by efforts to criminalize dissent or silence advocacy. We will continue to fight—alongside others who share our values—for the right to a healthy environment, a functioning democracy, and the rule of law.
What we are witnessing has been is a calculated attempt to turn back the clock on conservation by hollowing out democratic norms of oversight and accountability. The consequences, if left unchecked, will be long-lasting, affecting not only ecological stability but the very fabric of our society.
The struggle to protect our oceans is inseparable from the struggle to defend democracy. We know which side we are on– truth, science, ecological integrity and all who are committed to fighting for a just and healthy society.
