Trump’s Long-Standing Friendship with an Environmental Activist

This week the Stewardship Roundtable was pleased to welcome Ed Russo, long-time environmental advisor to President Trump and environmental activist.  Ed is a passionate environmentalist who spends his time saving the Florida coral reefs from pollution, cleaning up toxic waste sites that threaten human health and the environment, protecting drinking water, and working to reduce surface water pollution causing dead zones such as those in the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico.

For those who want to get into the mind of Trump on the environment, I suggest picking up a copy of Russo’s book, Donald D. Trump: An Environmental Hero.

Ed is a true hero in his own right, but he has many good things to say about his former boss and Trump’s commitment to protecting the environment, saving threatened species, and improving the human condition.  Russo is passionate about providing clean and safe drinking water to those in need, and is working to promote new and exciting technologies (such as Watergen) that can harness clean, fresh water from the atmosphere.

Russo’s book begins:

To understand Donald J. Trump, the environmental hero, and the complexities that contribute to him as a person, you first have to get to know a few other people.  Most people have no idea about the connection between Donald J. Trump and John Z. DeLorean, which interestingly led to Donald Trump’s environmental initiatives.  In fact, this connection is how I met Donald.

During our time with Russo, he spoke of his close relationship with DeLorean and Trump, as detailed in his book, and the President’s long-standing commitment to environmental protection as a businessman.

Russo, who has been dubbed “Trump’s environmental evangelist” has much wisdom to impart and advice for environmentalists.  Get politics out of the environment – clean air and clean water are not partisan issues.

“Roll up your sleeves and go back to work. Deal with practical environmental solutions.” He predicts that Trump will be “one of the strongest practical environmental presidents because he understands the environment.”  (Bravender E&E News, 2017)

This week’s Roundtable with Russo, which welcomed a great mix of Trump, Obama, Bush and Reagan environmental officials, environmental and business leaders, is a great reminder of how folks of different political persuasions can still sit down together and find commonality through trust, friendship and a commitment to doing what’s right.

A special thanks to Ken von Schaumburg and the law firm of Clark Hill for hosting the Roundtable this week.

Those interested in the Stewardship Roundtable can contact Brent Fewell (brent.fewell@earthandwatergroup.com) or Jim Presswood (jpresswood@esalliance.org).