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"I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?"

-- Robert Redford

Time Magazine

Redford has been fighting on behalf of the wilderness since the early '70s, when he was a young stud still Barefooting in the Park. (And remember this is Hollywood, where one year is considered a serious commitment, and three decades an eternity.) The list of battles he's fought, places he's saved, and pieces of legislation he's helped along is taller than an old-growth redwood, but one of his major achievements is very tangible. Without Redford there would be no Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, a 1.7-million-acre (7,571 sq km) expanse of land that the star, among others, fought to keep out of commercial hands from 1975 until 1996, when President Clinton effectively closed it to development. Many of his fellow Utahans, especially cattlemen and states-rights activists, did not thank him for his efforts. He's still campaigning for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and against global warming — which he was talking about as early as 1989.

As Redford became more successful, he used more and more of his gifts to fight for his causes. He donated money, he shared the limelight, he made documentaries, he gave land and cash and — the famous person's most precious resource — time. His Sundance Channel now airs an environmentally themed block of programming known as the Green. But it's perhaps not what Redford brought into being that was his greatest gift to the environment; it's the example he set. "I learned early," he said, "that you'd better know what you're talking about. You'd better realize that certain issues are going to be so hot — no matter what reason, what logic you apply to it — you're going to be met with an opposition."

• https://redfordcenter.org/

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Robert Redford: Scott Pruitt Is 'Hell-Bent' On Dismantling EPA Rules

TIME MAGAZINE

By ROBERT REDFORD October 24, 2017

Forty-seven years ago, none other than President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency, recognizing “clean air, clean water, and open spaces should once again be the birthright of every American.”

Since that hopeful launch of the E.P.A., both Republican and Democratic presidents have affirmed that environmental issues transcend politics. That’s simple to understand as the impacts of clean air, water and climate change impact all Americans, and everyone around the world.

What we need to pay more attention to, right now, before it’s too late, is the reality that we’ve put someone in charge of protecting the environment who seems hell-bent on the opposite.

Current E.P.A. head Scott Pruitt is moving mountains of policy in the directions he favors. And those directions don’t benefit you, or me, or our families. They only benefit the companies and industries that pollute and profit. And they will do whatever it takes to advance their agenda.

Now you can add censorship to the list of new E.P.A. techniques. Just this week, E.P.A. scientists who were scheduled to present their research at a leading and respected conference in Rhode Island, were told they were no longer allowed to even share their findings with colleagues. There is no democracy in darkness.

My heart goes out to all who have suffered and are suffering each and every time I turn on the news. These changes to our environment and future are very real, with very real consequences we are experiencing every day.

We simply cannot let Scott Pruitt’s slash-and-burn attitude toward environmental protections continue. It’s time to put renewed pressure where it’s most needed, in challenging and shining light on what is taking place every day at the E.P.A.

Here’s how: call your elected officials today and let them know you want a tough and science-led E.P.A. with the strongest mandates for protecting our environment and our future. Let them know what you think of Scott Pruitt’s leadership, and ask them to support stronger oversight of the agency, stronger scrutiny of their decisions and ethics investigations into any wrongdoing.

We only have one planet, one home, one shot. This is it.

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