The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973 and signed into law by Republican Richard Nixon, has been a bulwark against unrestrained deforestation and development for over 50 years. It has protected and helped restore 1,700 species that teetered on the brink of extinction but returned to viable populations. Author Lowell Baier was a young lawyer in Washington, D.C., when the law passed and has worked for 60 years at the leading edge of environmental law, including leading the first President Bush’s conservation policies in 1989. Tune into this critical discussion to learn from Lowell’s work on a comprehensive history of the ESA in two volumes, The Codex of the Endangered Species Act and his just-released book, Earth’s Emergency Room: Saving Species As The Planet And Politics Gets Hotter.
Lowell explains the origins of the law during the 1960s and 70s Green Revolution and the revitalization of the ESA in the Clinton era, which made it more effective and responsive in the face of climate change. A post-partisan movement, Conservation Without Conflict, is now working in Washington to pass new legislation, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, to expand funding to support state and federal species restoration programs—Lowell Baier’s books are available on Amazon and Powell’s Books.
