”The U.S. Interior Department on Friday [April 19, 2024] essentially rejected the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s proposal to build the Ambler Road, a 211-mile industrial road that would have cut through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve to access copper and zinc deposits in Northwest Alaska…the Biden administration said the road, also known as the Ambler Access Project, would cause irreparable damage to wildlife including caribou, which many local people rely on for food. The administration also announced stronger protections for 13 million acres inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a vast swath of oil-rich — but environmentally sensitive — federal land in the Arctic.” Alaska Public Media/PBS, NPR April 19, 2024
Why has our country decided to “preserve” certain lands and bodies of water, to set aside and protect great swaths of our country, limit human access and use, and allow nature to dominate? It was, unsurprisingly, painters and poets who first discussed the idea of preserving large areas of land in the west for national parks. According to the National Park Service (NPS) page titled: “The Philosophical Underpinnings of the National Park Idea”, the portraiture artist, George Catlin, was the first to talk about the idea of large western national parks in 1832:
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on these environmental issues. Are we doing enough to confront climate change? What about land and water protection? Should we continue to protect our pristine land and water from development? Feel free to leave your ideas in the Comment Section below.
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