As we do our work in D.C., we should do our work in collaboration

Hear the words of Scott Pruitt, spoken as counsel in the halls of governance: “As we do our work in D.C., we should do our work in collaboration and in partnership, in cohesion with states so that we can work on environmental issues from Superfund to air quality to water quality across the full spectrum in things that we do in partnership with those folks.” These are words not of solitary rule, but of shared stewardship—an acknowledgment that the burdens of the earth cannot be carried by one hand alone, but require the many hands of state and nation joined together.

The meaning of this quote lies in the call for collaboration. The work of environmental protection is vast and heavy: the cleaning of poisoned lands through the Superfund program, the guarding of the very air that all creatures breathe, the safeguarding of water that flows as life’s blood through every community. To imagine that a distant capital could govern all these matters alone is folly. Pruitt declares that the path to true success lies in partnership—a bond between federal authority and state guardians, each bringing strength and knowledge to the same struggle.

The origin of these words emerges from the long tension between federal power and state responsibility in the United States. Since the founding of the EPA in 1970, there has been conflict over whether Washington should dictate environmental policy, or whether states should shape their own responses to the land and air they know best. Pruitt, once the attorney general of Oklahoma, carried with him a deep belief in state sovereignty, and in this quote he voiced his conviction that only through harmony between the center and the periphery could the earth’s wounds be healed.

History itself gives witness to the truth of this vision. In the wake of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, when vast winds swept away the soils of the Great Plains, it was not Washington alone that brought restoration. Federal programs provided guidance and funds, yet it was local farmers, states, and communities that replanted grasses, reshaped fields, and altered their ways of life. It was a partnership of national vision and local action that restored the land. Had either worked alone, the land would have remained barren; together, they wrought renewal.

The lesson here is clear: unity is strength. When states and the federal government act in opposition, the earth suffers, for pollution respects no boundary line and poisoned rivers do not halt at the border. But when they act in cohesion, aligning their powers, resources, and knowledge, the result is protection that endures. Just as tribes of old joined together to hunt, to defend, to build, so too must the tribes of the modern world—states and nations—join to preserve the common home of humanity.

What then must we do? As citizens, we must call for both accountability and cooperation. Demand that D.C. does not seek to dominate, nor that states shirk responsibility. Encourage leaders to build bridges rather than walls of pride, to see that environmental issues are not trophies for political gain but matters of survival. In our own lives, too, we may echo this principle by working in partnership—neighbors uniting to clean rivers, communities joining to protect forests, cities and states collaborating for cleaner energy. For what the earth needs is not solitary heroes, but networks of hands joined in common cause.

Thus, remember the words of Scott Pruitt: “We should do our work in collaboration and in partnership, in cohesion with states.” Let this be a guiding flame, that future generations may know: great challenges demand unity. Just as air and water flow across all boundaries, so too must our efforts flow across divisions. Teach this to your children, that they may learn to labor not in isolation but in harmony, and that through partnership, they may preserve both the earth and the fellowship of humankind.