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Pessimistically (I know, I know), it seems to me that recent events put many of these advances under threat. Science funding cuts and rollbacks of environmental protections can take out half the list or more. How great can these accomplishments really be if they can be so easily undone?

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I think the thing to keep in mind here is that tons of this is unrelated to the US and its politics (what I presume you are somewhat getting at). Other countries are realizing the strength they can have and working for improvement. Whether or not the US unravels remains to be seen, but at least many of these great things are becoming a global effort.

You're really asking whether anything can be an accomplishment if it can be later ruined or undone.

There's a fine line between it being possibile and probable.

A fundamental problem is that it's much easier to break things than build or maintain them. In many cases, gains accomplished over years or even decades can potentially be erased almost overnight (certainly in the environmental, political and economic spheres).

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