Conservation And Environmental Conservation

The environmentalist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries presents a picture of America at the time: torn between the desires to expand while seeking to protect nature. Although all members of the movement sought to protect nature, there were two predominant schools as to how to go about this. In their two philosophies, they created two methods for human interaction with the wilderness. The conservationist movement can be called the utilitarian movement, and sought the greatest good for the greatest number over the longest term. In contrast, the preservationist school aimed at keeping nature in its current state, although the

The population of the United States had almost doubled from 1870 to 1900 because of immigrants coming into the country to work in a growing factory industry. One of Roosevelt's biggest beliefs was that the government had the right to regulate big business to protect the welfare of society.(Milkis, Sidney. "Miller Center." Theodore Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs-. N.p., n.d. Web). Roosevelt believed that the government should use its resources to help achieve economic and social justice. When the country faced a staggering coal shortage in the fall of 1902 because of a strike in Pennsylvania the President thought he should step in. Roosevelt decided to call in the mine owners and the representatives of labor to the white house to work out the predicament. When the two sides refused to talk Teddy devised a plan to get the two sides to communicate. His plan was the “ square deal” and it was that instead of sending federal troops to break the strike and force the miners back to work, Roosevelt threatened to use troops to take the mines and run them as a federal operation.(Milkis, Sidney. "Miller Center." Theodore Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs-. N.p., n.d. Web). The Square Deal worked to balance competing interests to create a fair deal for all sides: labor and management, consumer and business, developer and conservationist. Everywhere Roosevelt went he expressed the need to preserve environment as a place of refuge. He identified the American character with the nation's wilderness regions, believing that our western and frontier heritage had shaped American values, behavior, and culture. He preserved 200 million acres of land for national parks and reserves during his presidency. In 1902 Roosevelt signed the Newlands Reclamation bill which used money from federal land sales to build reservoirs and irrigation systems for agriculture in the desperate

Conservation was indeed a priority for Theodore Roosevelt. In order to make connections between conservation and the progress, patriotism and morality of the American people, Roosevelt links conservation to modern day civilization, urges the nation to consider future generations,

In fact, he was the leader of the progressive movement. He continuously wanted there to be a happy balance between capital and labor so he founded his policy called the Square Deal. He was a liberal and became an advocate for prosecuting monopolies that violated antitrust law, otherwise known as “trust busting”. He kept these monopolies from controlling entire industries across the country. He worked hard to guide the United States into world politics. Roosevelt also aimed for Promotion of Anti-Trust suits. He was also a conversationalist. Some of his policies for conservation were creating the National Conservation Commission to record the nation’s resources and manage their use more efficiently, Delegate two hundred million acres as national forests, mineral reserves, and waterpower plants, as well as an addition of five national parks and eighteen national monuments to the list of protected lands. Roosevelt worked very hard to try and keep the economic issues of his time intact.

The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform that grew from the 1890s to the 1920s. Social reformers and journalists, like Jane Addams, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell were some of the powerful voices for progressivism. “They concentrated on exposing the evils of corporate greed, combating fear of immigrants, and urging Americans to think hard about what democracy meant.” Many progressive reformers wanted to end corruption in the government, regulate business practices, address health hazards, and improve working conditions. It was also an era of conservationists. Conservationists are people who protect and preserve the environment and wildlife. Throughout the Progressive Era, there were many conservationists who wrote and described nature, but the most well-known figure in conservation was John Muir. John Muir worked to protect Earth’s beauty by traveling and exploring nature, co-founding the Sierra Club, and by influencing others through his writings and by showing some of the most important people how the wildlife was magnificent.

Conservation was the most important reform, from this time period, since it worked towards protecting the United State’s physical environment which leads to obtaining the essential resources of nature, preserving the naturality of the planet, and living a higher quality of life.

Conservationism, the preservation and protection of natural resources, is something that Roosevelt frequently stressed the importance of during his presidency. Roosevelt believed that the government had a responsibility to take care of the nation’s environment, so he worked to create many parks, agencies, and acts to do so ("The Theodore Roosevelt Administrations."). The President even said, “…natural resources are not limited by the boundary lines which separate nations, and that need for conserving them upon

Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States after the assassination of William McKinley. The first sense of the progressive era came as Roosevelt revealed his new domestic policy called the Square Deal. The Square Deal was based on three ideas: protection of the consumer, control of large corporations, and conservation of natural resources. Starting off, Roosevelt passed the Newlands Act of 1902 that initiated massive irrigation projects in the west to bring water and life to the arid land (conservation of natural resources). The next act of Roosevelt was the Elkins Act of 1903 that made it illegal for railroads to have unfair pricing by giving price rebates to some businesses.

One of the greatest legacies of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency was his influential support for the conservation movement. From the minute he was sworn into office, Teddy voiced his passionate concern for the natural world and its dim future due to the growing of the industrial era. Roosevelt described the natural world as a “transcendent experience” that encompassed qualities such as “The majestic trunks, beautiful in color and in symmetry” while “[rising] around [him] like the pillars of a mightier cathedral than was ever conceived” (Henretta, 651). Led by a passionate love for the environment, the republican president committed himself to bringing more awareness to the conservation movement. By the end of his presidency, Roosevelt had issued

Beginning in 1905, Roosevelt started his work in conserving the environment by making the United States Forest Service and National Parks. In 1908, he called together a meeting, “The National Conservation Conference.” Roosevelt also declared many pieces of land “historic” or “monuments” to conserve them. With his help, we still have many parks and forests that we can enjoy today.

The primary source that I chose to document was on Professor Karl’s suggested list of primary sources. The article was titled Theodore Roosevelt on Conservation and can be found on the website http://www.sageamericanhistory.net/progressive/docs/TRonConserv.htm . It is President Theodore Roosevelt’s address to the Seventh Annual Message to Congress which took place on December 3, 1907.

Environmental worldviews are how people think the world works, where they fit, and how they think ethically and morally. These views can be human centred, earth-centered or a combination of the two(Tucker and Grim, 1994).

Since the beginning of civilization humanity has adopted a subjugating stance toward nature. Ecological exploitation has become the de facto standard, contributing to the illusion of self-subsistence provided by modern society. This mindset is untenable given humanities reliance on the natural world, as best demonstrated by the critical importance of various parts of the environment to humanities continued existence. This includes the importance of biodiversity to medicinal advancement and climate adaptation, the role of insects in the renewal of the biosphere, and the importance of the environment for humanities psychological health.

The Twentieth Century conservationists like John Muir and Gifford Pinchot always argued that it was important for the government of the day to strike a balance between the two conflicting goals of economic development and environmental conservation. According to Menzel (2007; 3- 4), other environmental movements in the USA had been in constant conflict with industrial enterprises. The major root cause of conflict being the fact that industrial enterprises had ignored the fact their activities were hurting the environment through

I am writing to you in regard to the Bridger -Teton National Forest. It is “the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 United States. Offering nearly 1.2 million acres of designated Wilderness, over 3,000 miles of road and trail and thousands of miles of unspoiled rivers and streams.” (USDA Forest Service)