The following article announces the signing of a major law protecting public land in the United States. Early in his term, President Obama shows strong support for “America the Beautiful” and its wilderness. I’m really pleased to have a President doing the kind of things that I can report as good news to encourage rather than bad news to protest!
Obama Signs Wide-Ranging Conservation Law
Agence France-Presse: “President Barack Obama signed legislation on Monday expanding and protecting US public parks and wilderness areas from oil and gas development, billed as the largest US conservation measure in more than 15 years. ‘This legislation guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans, national parks, monuments, and wilderness areas for granted,’ Obama said while signing the Public Land Management Act. The legislation - backed by members of both parties — is ‘among the most important in decades to protect, preserve and pass down our nation’s most treasured landscapes to future generations,’ Obama added.”
Three Questions
1. How does President Obama compare with previous presidents on environmental and conservation issues?
2. How does signing this law correlate with other actions to delineate the pattern of the Obama administration?
3. What are some practical and economic benefits to preserving wilderness rather than destroying it to extract resources?
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RickB 04.08.09 at 1:06 pm
Good questions. There is no comparison, is there? George and Dick were pillagers. Barack is trying to draw a line in the sand between the pillagers and the planet. I think he will have a hard time against the influence of corporate America. Looks like we will lose the “cap and trade” plan, which might have funded a new industry around alternative energy. Barack talked about the “clean coal” idea during the campaign last year. That tech is likely many years away and will need lots of water to make it work. For me, preservation of wilderness is an aesthetic issue.
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Elizabeth Barrette Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
George and Dick were pillagers. Yea, verily. A destitution on their heads.Barack is trying to draw a line in the sand between the pillagers and the planet. He’s made a good start on that, despite the opposition.I think he will have a hard time against the influence of corporate America. Looks like we will lose the “cap and trade” plan, which might have funded a new industry around alternative energy. Too true — but that is where we come in. The more citizens support Obama, the more he can accomplish. We can write to him directly, blog favorably about his accomplishments, rag on our other representatives, etc.Barack talked about the “clean coal” idea during the campaign last year. That tech is likely many years away and will need lots of water to make it work. “Clean coal” is an oxymoron. That fool FutureGen plant is aimed at my vicinity, and I will not be pleased if it manifests.For me, preservation of wilderness is an aesthetic issue.That too, but for me, it’s a SURVIVAL issue. All the air, all the water, all the biosphere in the world is a single system in which we live. Damaging any part of it harms us and threatens our existence. In order to live healthy, happy lives we need the Earth to be in good shape. Right now it’s not, so we’re not.
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