For half a century, the Endangered Species Act has stood as a legal acknowledgment that human progress carries hidden costs — that a wetland drained or a forest cleared can extinguish a species as surely as a hunter's rifle. A memo now circulating within the Trump administration proposes to sever that connection, redefining illegal harm to require proof of intent and effectively shielding developers and industries from liability for the incidental deaths their projects cause. The question it forces is ancient and unresolved: are we responsible only for what we aim to do, or also for what we kn