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This Land is Your Land: Why the Preservation of Natural Resources is important for the future By: Tim Danos In the song This Land is Your Land, Woody Guthrie sang about the importance of the protection of our inherited land. By singing, This land was made for you and me, he describes the state of how humans have acquired the worlds natural resources and how mankind is just as much a part of nature as the smallest ant. Just as the evolution of technology is exciting, it can also be damaging to the balance of biodiversity in surrounding habitats. However, by setting goals and regulations, the needs of the diversity in an environment can be done without damaging the American economy. Throughout the 20th century, leaders in the United States have shown that the preservation of our resources can intertwine with the needs of industries. Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to effectively regulate in support of the environment. President Roosevelt declared fifty-one wild bird refuges, doubled the number of national parks, set aside one-hundred and fifty million acres of land for a national forest reserve, and enacted protection for sixteen sites that included redwood forests in Murr Woods, Mount Olympus, and the Grand Canyon. He also withdrew twenty-six million acres of land from private industries and turned them into public lands (Evans 96). He supported a bill called the National Reclamation Act, which provided the government with ownership of lands for the development of irrigation. Because of the law, the midwest has become a major agricultural area in the world, which provides the nation with 60% of vegetables and 25% of fruits and nuts (USBR, CCRH). By 1909, President Roosevelt left the nation with one hundred and ninety-three million acres of national forests, as opposed to twenty million acres in 1898 (Evans, 96). In the late 1960s, the American public began to call for effective legislation in the preservation for the environment. President Richard M. Nixon pushed great environmental policies throughout his terms of office, which have been called the Magna Carta of environmental laws, including the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, The Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the first celebration of Earth Day in 1970 (Dickinson 44). The establishment of effective regulations brought results, including a 98% reduction of toxic lead emissions, a 33.34% reduction of sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions, the doubling of swimmable waterways, and the cleanup of toxic waste sites (Pope Sept. 2005 6-7). During the 1970s, domestic and international affairs called for a greater conservation of fossil fuels. The 1973 oil embargo caused by the Yom Kippur War caused great burden on the supply and price of oil in the United States. Automobile drivers had to wait in endless lines for gasoline and experienced a ten cent rise in gasoline from thirty-five cents to forty-five cents (what a bargain!). Many places of employment had to adapt to under heated homes and offices because of the costly price of electricity and oil (Evans, 604). In 1975, Congress passed the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which held the provision of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which requires automobile manufacturers to make vehicles run on a minimum amount of fuel per gallon. President Jimmy Carter helped raise the fuel efficiency in vehicles from 13 mpg in 1974 to 25 mpg in 1982, which resulted in a 87% drop in Persian Gulf oil imports (Kennedy 108). President Carter declared the moral equivalent of war on energy. Leading by example, Carter promoted conservation by lowering White House thermostats and wearing a cardigan sweater during fireside chats (Evans 604). Leadership on environmental advocacy came from ordinary citizens as well. During the 1970s, Lois Gibbs became a national icon for her role in advocating for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites. Gibbs lived near the Love Canal in New York, which was heavily polluted from hazardous materials produced by the military and the petrochemical industry. She began canvassing her neighbors to sign a petition for federal assistance in evacuating the area after her son and other children in the 99th Street School began developing unusual disorders, including epilepsy, a disorder that causes seizures. Because of the delayed government response to the Love Canal, Gibbs and her supporters took two EPA officers hostage for seven minutes in front of the nation. A week later, the EPA announced the evacuation of citizens residing near the Love Canal (Regenstein). President Carter pushed a bill through Congress called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which provided funding and regulation of cleaning up toxic waste sites (SF). Since the passing of the 1980 bill, over 297 Superfund sites have been cleaned and because of Lois Gibbs dedication and perseverance, no commercial sites for hazardous wastes have been opened in the United States (Pope 6-7). Because of the dynamic leadership of environmental advocacy, many issues have been dealt with successfully. Currently, our country has even more issues to deal with in regards to the state of our environment, including mercury contamination, water pollution, smog, and global warming. Mercury contamination is a serious health risk that can lead to the dysfunction of the central nervous system, brain damage, loss of concentration and memory, depression, irritability, stress, sleep deprivation, and ultimately death. The release of mercury pollution comes primary from the emissions of smokestacks,which comes primarly from the coal and chlorine industries, as well as crematory emissions. Mercury emissions are released into the atmosphere, where it forms with rain and settles into bodies of water like lakes and oceans. Marine species like swordfish, tuna, and whales contract the mercury, which are then consumed by humans. The EPA has estimated that one out of every eight women eligible for giving birth have unsafe levels of mercury in their blood stream. In 2000,fifteen percent of the babies born (600,000 out of 4 million) were exposed to unacceptable amounts of mercury (MJ, 40). Another critical issue is the livelihood of our bodies of water. The Chesapeake Bay is a large body of water that runs throughout the state of Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Bay is currently suffering from hypoxia waters, which means it lacks a balance of oxygen in the water. Currently, one-third of the Bay is covered in dead zones, which are caused by the release of chemicals like nitrogen and phosphorus, which comes from automobile exhaust, fertilizers, sewage, and the overproduction of chicken farming, which produces over 300,000 tons of litter annually (MARYPIRG). The dead zones have challenged the livelihood of marine life, the fishing business, a $300 million dollar annual industry in Maryland, and the general health of humans. Recent reports have found that rockfish populated in the Bay are carrying a disease called mycobacterosis, which can cause skin infections that lead to arthritis. In the past four years, cases for fish handlers disease have grown from 18 to 46 (Williamson). Air pollution is also a significant problem in our country. Smog pollution, the combination of air pollutants like carbon monoxide and ground-level ozone, is a large contributor to the contraction of asthma, heart diseases, and lung diseases. According to the United States Public Interest Research Group ( US PIRG), over eighty-eight million Americans are vulnerable to fine particle pollution. The EPA has reported that seventy-two out of ninety-seven monitored counties have reported levels of fine particle pollution that exceed national health standards. The department also reported that the state of Maryland ranks tenth in excessive fine particle health standards and the metropolitan area of Baltimore-Towson, MD, which is the home to over 2,532,994 citizens, ranks ninth in large areas plagued by smog pollution (US PIRG). The American Lung Association (ALA) has reported that 48% of people they surveyed stated that lung disease limits their participation in sports and many other recreational activities, 36% stated that asthma limits normal physical functioning and 25% agreed that asthma has interfered with social activities. Studies have shown that over twenty-four and a half million work days were lost in 2003 because of asthma-like conditions, which lead to $4.6 billion in indirect costs (ALA). Smog pollution is harmful to the health of our air, the health of our citizens, and the health of the economy. Though mercury poisoning, smog pollution, and water pollution are evident environmental issues, the most pressing and prominent issue of our time is global warming. Global warming is the process of the warming of the Earths atmosphere, which is caused by the release of greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and water vapor, which comes from automobile exhaust, coal smokestacks, fertilizers, power plants,etc. The warming of the earths temperature changes the Earths climate, which causes higher global temperatures, deforestation, the melting of ice sheets, the pollution of oceans, and adverse weather conditions (Subin). Since the 19th century, atmospheric scientists and climatologists worldwide have studied the chemical changes to the global climate. French scientist Jean-Baptiste Fourier discovered the greenhouse effect, which describes the Earths atmosphere as a greenhouse, which traps heat and maintains a stable climate, but when greenhouse gases are released, it changes the earths climate. In 1890, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius expanded on Fouriers studies and found that carbon dioxide played a significant role in the stability of global temperatures. A decade later, Arrhenius began to caution that the combustion of coal and fossil fuels would bring enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to change the temperature of the planet over the course of a few centuries (Subin). Ever since the times of Arrhenius and Fourier, scientists worldwide have studied the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on the Earths climate. With the growth of technology in the scientific field and the use of agricultural surveying, global models, satellite images, and the studies of ice and water levels, scientists have been able to gather the overwhelming amount of accurate and precise evidence in support of global warmings effects on the climate of the Earth. In 2001, reports had shown that the earths temperature had increased by one degree over the past century and concluded that the thirty-percent increase of greenhouse gas emissions over the past two centuries played a role in the changing of the climate. Since 1998, when scientists began investigating more into the records of global temperatures annually, the past eight years have been consecutively warmer than the previous one. For instance, reports have shown that the global temperature in 2005 was the warmest ever recorded, just above 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 1998 (Kolbert, 12). The increase in warmer global temperatures is also playing a large role in the melting of ice and the changing of chemistry in oceans. Recent findings have presented that Antarctic ice sheets are shrinking by an annual lost mass of thirty-six cubic miles, which is causing the sea levels of oceans to rise by 0.4 millimeters annually (Eilperin 1). In 2005, researchers and scientists have found evidence that over the past forty years, the temperature of the oceans has become increasingly warmer. Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has estimated that the ocean has absorbed over one-hundred and eighteen billion metric tons of carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution, which has caused the altering of the chemistry of oceans . Because of this change, twenty percent of the worlds coral reefs are damaged by bleaching and water temperatures. Over the past ten years, fifteen percent of the worlds sea grass has disappeared, which deprives species like the juvenile fish, manatees, and sea turtles of natural habitats and a stable food supply(MJ 38-44). Global climate change is causing significant problems worldwide. In November of 2005, a report by scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the World Health Organization (WHO) disclosed that Africa is being effected by climate change-related diseases like malaria, diarrhea, and malnutrition, which are all caused by sensitivity of an unstable climate (Papasain). The severity of storms has grown, especially in 2005. During last fall, the Gulf Coast region was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst disasters ever to hit the United States. Shortly after the storm, specialists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published studies that concluded that tropical storms have grown sixty percent larger, winds are fifty percent more powerful, and the likeliness of Category 4 &5 storms has increased over the past twenty-five years. Scientists like Norman Myers have predicted that without immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rising waters will leave 150 million people worldwide displaced, which would be equivalent to having 150 Hurricane Katrinas, with the exception of areas without places of retreat like the Superdome or Convention Center in downtown New Orleans, and without the financial resources to produce $200 billion dollars in government appropriations for repairs (McKibbon 32). Global warming also poses a threat to ecosystems, forests, and the livelihoods of various species. In Canada, voracious mountain pine beetles have infested acres of Canadian forests that are three times the size of the state of Maryland. In the past, colder weather patterns were able to control the pine beetle swarming the forests, but because of the changing climate, the weather has allowed the species of the pine beetle to overpopulate the region. Because of the growing rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the Canadian Forest Service has predicted that eighty percent of pine forests will be dead within the next seven years because of the parasitizing from the pine beetle (Struck). Many species of animals have become vincible due to unstable climates. The red-breasted goose, which breeds near the Arctic river, has seen a decline in food sources because of vulnerablity from rising sea levels. Many species of frogs are endangered because of diseases and droughts. The melting of ice caps and rising sea levels has left the Arctic polar bear to be one of the most vulnerable species to climate change. By the late 1970s, the Arctic polar bear had a population of over 1,200 in the region. Today, only 950 populate the area. Global warming is leaving the Earth very insecure to the pressures of higher global temperatures, the melting of ice sheets, the pollution and modification of the chemical makeup of oceans, adverse weather conditions, deforestation, and the endangerment of species worldwide (MJ, 46, Kluger 36-38). Although our ecosystems, forests, health, and waters are becoming much less safe due to the increase of human-imposed activities, the most important factor in our country, our democracy, is being endangered by our government, which is being corrupted by special interests over the interests of the American public. President George W. Bushs administration has not only been absent in taking effective measures to protect our natural resources and providing steps for future energy sources, they have purposely manipulated our democracy in order to fulfill an agenda set forth by corporate interests. The Bush administration has consistently ran on an agenda that has suppressed the debate over public energy and environmental policies. In 2001, scientists and representatives from around the world met in Kyoto, Japan to discuss an international agreement on actions to restrain greenhouse gas emissions. After relentless lobbying from the Global Climate Coalition, a group of automobile and oil corporations, (and the administrations own ideology), President Bush backed out of the treaty, leaving the United States of America to be the only country not to sign or participate in the Kyoto Protocol because it would hurt the economy (Dupler). What corporate ties also make up part of the US economy? The automobile and oil industries. In early 2001, Vice President Dick Cheney was appointed to establish the administrations energy policies. During closed-door meetings at the White House, the Cheney Task Force discussed an energy policy that included environmental deregulation, energy industry tax breaks and loopholes with executives from the energy industry. Cheney never included any advocates from consumer, environmental, or health organizations during those specific meetings to debate the policies and only invited these advocates for a five-minute meeting and a photo-op in the Oval Garden (Dean, Kennedy). The current administration also has ties with the manipulation of the science surrounding global climate change. In 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency made the effort to summarize climate science in a State of the Environment report. The White House constantly interfered with the report by inserting excerpts of information from the American Petroleum Institute, a lobbying group for the natural gas and oil industries, to clout the section in order to subvert scientific consensus. By the time the report was issued, the climate science section was missing (Kolbert 164). In June of 2005, Philip Cooney, the chief of staff on the White House Council on Environmental Quality, resigned from his position after reports proved that he had edited governmental climate change reports to undermine the scientific consensus on global warming. By changing the language in the reports, for example, changing the words point to to is and indicate with maybe, the consigns on global climate change would be undermined, which would give reasons for lacks of legislative action. After his resignation, Cooney went on to work for Exxon-Mobil (Kolbert 165). In 2001, Republican party activist and pollster Frank Luntz told Congressional Republicans that by challenging the science of global warming, voters [will] believe that there is no consensus about global warming in the scientific community. Because of public skeptism on the validity of the scientific proofs of global warming, the attention will be dropped from public demand to create effective policies by imposing regulations on big business. The Bush administration has not only corrupted scientific evidence, but corrupted federal agencies with appointees whose actions contradict their job titles. Shortly after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, the city was filled with debris that produced harmful chemicals like asbestos, concrete dust, and lead. The EPA was ready to make new releases that the air in Lower Manhattan was not safe and would require a long cleanup of the area. However, on September 18, 2001, after pressure from the White House, the EPA announced that the air met government standards and was considered safe. With these declarations, brokers and stockholders on Wall Street would benefit from the reopening of the stock market, but would leave the health of Lower Manhattan residents vulnerable to deadly chemicals (Dean, 163). The White House also interfered with EPA warnings over 2,800 miles away from New York City. In September of 2001, former EPA director Christie Todd Whitman traveled to Libby, Montana, where the hazardous material vermiculite has led to high levels of asbestos contamination in the area. After records and reports had shown that billions of tons of the chemical had been shipped throughout the US in ventilation systems, the EPA was ready to call a public health emergency declaration. However, after pressure from the White House, the EPA did not make the declaration, leaving citizens that reside in fifteen to thirty-five million homes vulnerable to cancers like asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. (Dean 162). The Bush administration also pushed the EPA to accommodate the coal industry with relaxed emission regulations. As mentioned before, mercury poisoning can lead to many serious problems involving the functioning of the central nervous system and would add complication to a womans pregnancy. Nevertheless, the EPA implemented new rules to override President Clintons efforts to cut ninety percent of mercury emissions by 2008 by allowing up to three times the amount of mercury emissions and delay mercury emission cleanups until 2030 (Dickinson). Another governmental agency that has been corrupted by special interests accommodations is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees public lands under the Department of the Interior. The Bureau has granted over 13,070 drilling permits in public forests and is still struggling to keep up with the first 6,000 permits, while restricting biologists from being able to monitor the environmental damage from energy drilling on the lands. In the state of Wyoming, former pristine land like the Jonah Field is now open to drilling platforms, polluted ponds, and pipelines from the natural gas industry (Hardin, Drilling ..). These federal agencies have proven that they are unable to offer protection to the environment and manage our public lands. The most prominent branch of the federal government, the legislative branch, which creates and protects the laws of our country, is also being controlled by politicians looking for corporate interests instead of making informed decisions and valuing the credibility of scientific studies. Recently, a bill sponsored by Congressman Greg Walden (R-OR) has been called into dispute because of contrary scientific findings. The Forest Recovery Act, which would allow logging after a catastrophic event like a wildfire, was written to be the best way to suppress fires, both present and future. However, a graduate student, Daniel Donato, at Oregon State University found that post-wildfire logging would disrupt the process of recovering forests and would increase risks on the biodiversity in a forest environment. Donato has endured a lot since the release of his studies. First, the Department of Forestry at OSU, which receives ten percent annual funding from the timber industry, attempted to interrupt his publication of the findings in the journal Science. The Bureau of Land Management threatened to cut off the $300,000 federal grant given for that specific research on wildfires. Finally, Donato faced ridicule from Congressional members in support of post-wildfire logging. At a recent Congressional subcommittee, he was accused of having a deliberate bias, lack of humility, and ignorance of statistical theory because his findings did not support their legislative agenda (Hardin, Logging). Congressional members have also shown to great persistence in pushing their special interests through Congress. Senator Ted Steven's (R-AK) has attempted to drop the federal protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil interests in the region. ANWR was originally established by President Eisenhower in 1960 and expanded in 1980 by President Carter. The Refuge is the home to caribou herd, foxes, grizzly bears, wolves, and many other species. Countless studies have proven that even if the land was opened to oil drilling, it would not make the country less dependent on foreign oil and would only affect the price of oil by pennies. However, Sen. Steven's continues his effort to push this provision throughout the Senate. Last December, Steven's pulled a desperate and greedy move by adding the provision to a defense appropriations bill that would give funding to American soldiers in Iraq and federal assistance to the Gulf Coast region. Finally, a few days later, just before the winter holidays, the provision was dropped from the bill (Sierra Club, ANWR). Congressman Richard Pombo (R-CA) is attempting to eliminate the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires major projects on federal land to be disclosed with facts on environmental impact and the opportunity for debate from the general public. Recent panels in California, Texas, and Washington state have had disproportionate ratios between industrial leaders and environmental advocates at these meetings, with environmentalists representing only fourteen percent of the panel, or the ratio of one environmentalist to seven corporate representative. (Pope, Nov-Dec. 2005). Pombo has also planned for many years to repeal the Endangered Species Act, which is a law that protects species whose habitats are endangered from human activity, especially from urban sprawl. Pombos intentions in running for Congress came when his ranch was devalued because of the law. Pombos reformation of the bill, which includes revisions like the destruction of habitats, federal compensation for devalued homes, letting government agencies, such as the Department of the Interior, decide on the fate of an endangered specie and the removal of marine life protections, passed through the House of Representatives by thirty-votes last fall (Rauber). These politicians are not only undermining the voice of the American public, but becoming the rubber stamp for large enterprises not only at the expense of the American people and essential habitats many species need to survive. Though there is plenty of frustration with the actions of the federal government, many public officials, scientists, and ordinary citizens are providing alternatives for the restoration of ecosystems, recovery for endangered species, providing independent energy sources for the United States, and most importantly, restoring the public voice in public legislation on the federal, state, and local governments and personal actions ordinary citizens can adapt to. First, the health of bodies of water can be restored by reducing nitrogen fertilizer applications by twelve-fourteen percent over ten years, reducing fossil fuel pollution, the restoration of wetlands, the banning of fertilizer applications during the winter, and imposing limits on mercury pollution from the coal industry. (MJ, 42-43). Water restoration can also be done by better management of ecosystems and marine life, which includes adding more marine reserves, offshore national parks, and managing U.S. fish stocks more efficiently (MJ, 37-40). Second, the reduction of human activity on critical habitats can reestablish the livelihood of endangered species. Because of ozone depletion, which is caused by the release of CFCs (chloroflourocarbons) primary from air coolant systems, species of amhipibians like the Cascades frog are facing difficulties in their breeding cycles, causing the reduction in their population. Development in the Alaskan Tongass forest threatens the lives of species like the bald eagle, deer, and grizzly bears. However, by using safer alternatives like HCFCs (hydrochloroflourocarbons) and recycled paper, the need for CFCs and regular paper will diminish, and thus will help with the restoration of the ozone layer and the protection of public forests. Third, the use of renewable energies will lead to an independent energy source for the United States, provide jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With the increase in the investment of flex-fuel automobiles, which run on a combination of E85 ethanol, derived from the sugars from corn and grains, and gasoline, and the development of ethanol plants will lower gas prices by as much as eight cents a gallon initially, create jobs in rural communities, lower the $700 billion trade deficit by keeping energy revenues in the US, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050 (NCGA, NRDC). By using solar energy, which converts the energy from the sun into electricity, citizens will see the deduction of energy and utility bills and the diminution of over 350 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually (SC). The development of wind energy, which converts mechanical energy into electricity by a wind turbine, will bring tax revenues and royalties to local areas, create 80,000 jobs annually, and lead to the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions (SC, Clean Power). Currently, many actions are being taken on the federal, state, and local governmental level to promote clean energy for the United States. In Congress, a bill titled the Fuel Security and Consumer Choice Act (S. 1994) (H.R. 4673), sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA), plans to set a national goal of ending U.S. dependence on Middle East imports within ten years, increase the fuel economy of our cars and SUVs to 40 miles per gallon over the next ten years, mandate that all vehicles are capable of running on gasoline, ethanol, or a combination of both by 2015, and mandate that 25% of all residential and commercial energy be generated by renewable sources by 2020 (US Fed, Markey). Ten states are taking the initiatives on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the promotion of clean energy. The Clean Cars program sets standards that include cutting eighteen percent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and the promotion of the use of hybrid cars. This reduction of gas emissions would be equivalent to taking sixty-eight million cars off the road annually, which would save 7.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually and save consumers over $14.6 billion dollars over fourteen years (STATE PIRGS). Local governments are also playing a role in energy policies. The U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement is a policy that 178 mayors in 37 states have joined to improve government building energy sources, the planting of trees, and purchasing hybrid and other clean energy buses (SC, Climate Control). In Burlington, Vermont and many California cities have promoted the use of solar energy, wind energy, and conservation throughout public programs. At last, there are plenty of actions that can be done on the personal level to promote conservation, including recycling, using recyclable paper, car pooling, public transportation, properly inflating tires on personal automobiles, using fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs, limiting water use by taking less showers and washing dishes and laundry less, unplugging lights and electronics while sleeping, and most importantly, participating in the legislative process by advocating for effective public energy and environmental policies on the local, state, and federal levels of government. John McConnell, the founder of International Earth Day, once said, "Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure." 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