As a longtime public servant and environmental expert, Michael

Hear the words of Ben Ray Luján, spoken in praise of a leader entrusted with a sacred task: “As a longtime public servant and environmental expert, Michael Regan will help ensure that the EPA decisions are guided by science and will promote environmental justice.” These words are not merely a commendation of one man, but a call to remember the duty of those who govern: to anchor decisions in truth, and to wield power for the protection of all people, especially those who have long been forgotten.

When Luján names Michael Regan a “longtime public servant and environmental expert,” he reminds us that authority must rest not on ambition alone but on service and knowledge. A servant of the people is one who listens, who bears the burdens of communities, who labors not for glory but for the common good. An expert is one who studies deeply, who bends ear to the wisdom of science rather than the clamor of convenience. In Regan, Luján saw both qualities joined, and thus the promise of stewardship worthy of the people’s trust.

The phrase “guided by science” is a beacon in dark times. For history has shown what happens when science is ignored—rivers burn, skies choke with smog, children sicken from poisoned water. To be guided by science is to walk in truth, to see the world as it is and not as ideology would paint it. It is to use knowledge as compass and shield, ensuring that policies are not shaped by profit or politics alone, but by the wisdom of those who measure, study, and understand the living systems of the earth.

And when Luján speaks of “environmental justice,” he touches a truth deeper still. For pollution does not strike equally; the poor, the marginalized, and the voiceless have too often borne the heaviest burdens. Factories rise near their neighborhoods, toxic dumps poison their soil, and clean air becomes a luxury denied them. To fight for environmental justice is to fight for equity, to declare that no child should breathe poisoned air, that no community should be sacrificed for the comfort of another. It is justice not only for the earth, but for humanity.

History gives us an example in the tragedy of Flint, Michigan, where the waters ran brown and families suffered because leaders chose neglect over care. It was not science that failed, but the failure to heed it; not knowledge that was lacking, but the will to apply it justly. Flint became a wound upon the conscience of a nation, reminding all that environmental policy is not abstract but written into the lives and health of real people. It is to prevent such tragedies that leaders like Regan are called to serve.

The deeper meaning of Luján’s words is that service, science, and justice must walk together. To lead without service is to rule as a tyrant. To act without science is to stumble blind. To govern without justice is to build on sand, leaving the weak exposed to ruin. But when all three are joined, then leadership becomes not only effective but righteous, worthy of trust and of memory.

Children of tomorrow, take this wisdom into your hearts: demand of your leaders not only knowledge, but service; not only action, but justice. In your own lives, honor science by seeking truth, honor service by lifting others, and honor justice by defending the weak. Do not be deceived by those who mock knowledge or cast aside the vulnerable, for their path leads only to ruin. Instead, follow those who, like Regan, bind wisdom to compassion and place justice at the center of their work.

Thus, the wisdom of Luján’s words endures: that EPA decisions guided by science and rooted in environmental justice are not merely policies, but lifelines for the present and the future. Let this be your inheritance—that knowledge and justice shall never be separated, and that in serving the earth, you serve humanity itself. For to guard creation with truth and equity is the noblest labor of all.