Environmental: Conservation vs. Preservation

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A Happy Medium By: Max Addington “Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” - Theodore Roosevelt President Theodore Roosevelt, or Teddy, had it all figured out. He realized that the big rock that we call home is more than a massive pool of exploitable resources, like so many greed-filled individuals and corporations view it as. Teddy saw the beauty of our wonderfully diverse planet, while also giving heed to the many naturally preserved resources that it holds. He would not agree with the environmentalists who are strongly opposed to taking advantage of our national resources, yet he also would not agree with the people who paid no attention to the beauty of their planet, and viewed it as a source of income, rather than a home. Theodore Roosevelt, by category, would be considered a conservationist; but a well-informed, earth respecting conservationist. This is the mindset that all inhabitants of Earth need in order for us to thrive as a whole. Most preservationists and environmentalists are completely ignorant when it comes to the topic of natural resources. They understand the beauty of nature, and the need for maintenance of Earth for the sake of future generations, and they are absolutely correct about that. The problem is, they have a one-track mind that says that it is wrong- some even go to the extent of calling it Satanic- to use the resources that we have been given to better our society. What they do not realize is that their environmental footprint- measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems; it compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate- is close to, or the same as
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