Editor's note: The following was written by Audrey Peterman, an author, speaker, and advocate reconnecting people to nature, promoting enjoyment and stewardship of our public lands. It initially appeared on the Huffington Post.
While the 413 places and approximately 85 million acres protected in our National Park System belong to the American people, a significant number are so important to the entire human family that they sit atop the world’s greatest conservation lists: World Heritage Site, (22) Biosphere Reserve, (23) and Ramsar International Convention of Wetlands, (2). They are among the rarest of the rare on Planet Earth, of the same stature as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Galapagos Islands among others. So what happens to our national parks and public lands affects not just America but the world.
I started thinking about this a few weeks ago when we ran into our longtime friend Babacar M’Bow, nephew of Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, the African who spearheaded many of these designations in his term as Secretary General of UNESCO from 1974 -1987. The legacy of mankind since we first emerged from the caves and sat around a campfire is desperately at stake in our upcoming elections.
Though Glacier National Park is a World Heritage Site among other unique designations, intrusive noise from helicopter tour operators is a big issue that our friends at Quiet Glacier need our help to correct/NPS
The Democratic and Republican parties have starkly opposing views of what “public lands” should mean. The Democrats' conservation platform calls for collaborative stewardship similar to what we’ve been advancing through the Next100 Coalition. The Republican candidate scoffs at climate change and the platform aims to raid our public lands treasury and withdraw large swaths, with no benefit to the nation. So the future of our children and all the children of the world will be enhanced or greatly diminished, depending upon who is elected.
This brought me moments of extreme poignancy over the past week when we visited our grandchildren. Looking into the bright eyes of an 11-year-old who builds robots and computers, worships Elon Musk and still loves to roller board and play hide-and-seek with his friends, I felt a pang:
Am I doing everything I can and should to secure an environment in which he can live out his dreams as our ancestors did for us? In the future will he have to wear a face mask or carry oxygen when he goes out? It wasn’t so long ago that we didn’t have to buy bottled water.
I also saw vividly how the actions of our predecessors affects us today when I attended Homecoming at Morehouse College with Frank and spent time with many of his classmates, now in (or approaching) their 80s. The alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a few miles from his birth home protected in Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site was teeming with the happy expectant faces of young men, joined by the beautiful young women from neighboring Spelman College.
Entering the Morehouse School of Medicine building for the alumni breakfast, I was elated to see a sign promoting an upcoming Hike Out to Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, an activity we helped spearhead many years ago as part of the Keeping It Wild program. We connected with Frank’s first roommate at Morehouse and lifelong friend, Dr. Wilbur Leaphart, an educator who revolutionized the middle school system and served as Chair of KIW for several years.
At the President’s Brunch we met a young rear admiral who told us that our son Frank Jr., was the Morehouse Man who “made him” in their fraternity. While he and Frank talked Morehouse, his wife and I talked about what national parks were easily accessible on their trips across the country, other than the ones they already visited.
Rear Admiral Alvin Holsey talked Morehouse with Frank while his wife and I talked national parks.
Over drinks that night with two longtime Morehouse friends, I saw the light come on in Frank’s eyes as we walked down memory lane and he realized how he was tapped to go to Morehouse. One of his classmates recently retired as the Chief Design Engineer for a multi-billion dollar US Army Combat Systems program after a hugely successful career. The other chuckled when he told us how he got his Morehouse nickname, “Iron Stomach.”
“We were protesting the food and ‘mystery meat’ so it was agreed that all of us would walk out and not eat it,” he said. “But I had no choice. I had to eat it because I didn’t have 50 cents to buy a chicken sandwich off campus.” Later he was invited to the Dean’s house and to his amazement, they were eating the same food. In his career as a plastic surgeon he was at one point among the 350 highest qualified in the land. Living in Seattle they are big fans of our national parks. All three Morehouse men said there was no doubt that Morehouse was the turning point in their lives.
As I listened, I remembered Bill O’Reilly a few years ago saying he was shocked to find that Black-owned Sylvia’s restaurant in New York was just like any other restaurant, and no one was using expletives or yelling for food. The current Republican presidential candidate reveals a deplorably similar lack of awareness about Black lives and seems to get his ideas about his countrymen and women from sitcoms/reality TV. How would those two stack up at this table, I wondered? How does the calculated trumpeting of derogatory falsehoods about non-white Americans distort our perception of each other?
The grave conflict underway at Standing Rock involving First Nations striving to protect their sacred land demonstrates what happens when corporate “rights” are made to trump human rights and indigenous cultural practices. Though Standing Rock is not a national park, it isn’t difficult to imagine the damage that a pipeline can do to faraway ecosystems. The indigenous people are calling for help from all who respect their cause.
In the remaining months of President Obama’s term, our Next100 Coalition is pressing for him to establish the Freedom Riders National Monument in Anniston, AL, for all the reasons Frank listed here. More than 500 people showed up last week to speak in favor, to the satisfaction of the four surviving Freedom Riders and their allies.
This may be the last time I write before that fateful date November 8. I pray that each one of us will exercise our right to vote, and do so in a way that is responsible to the future of our public lands treasures, our country and our world.
Follow Audrey Peterman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Audreypete
Comments
"The current Republican presidential candidate reveals a deplorably similar lack of awareness about Black lives and seems to get his ideas about his countrymen and women from sitcoms/reality TV. How would those two stack up at this table, I wondered? How does the calculated trumpeting of derogatory falsehoods about non-white Americans distort our perception of each other?"
This is racial and not about immigration. I support enforcing immigration laws and protecting our Southern Border Parks. Some don't.
Exactly, Kurt. I've repeatedly tried to get across the idea that I'm nauseated by both candidates. But the bottom line is this: Which of them is the least dangerous when the choice lies only between a run of the mill lying career politician and a psychopath?
Maybe we need to be voting for the vice-presidential candidates instead of the ticket-toppers because both HRC and DJT could be indicted for any of a number of reasons. At least both of the alternates seem to be somewhat semi-sane.
The NY Times is not a bastion of factual reporting. Sadly, this paper is part of the State Run Media that turns a blind eye to fraud, criminal behavior, and violations of laws concerning our America's National Security.
Who among us would remain married to serial sex offender, Bill Clinton, who paid off women to settle their sex related charges and destroy a woman's life, some 25 yrs his younger, because he wanted sex and used his power and position to get it. Hillary's judgement in all areas is non existant.
I think this election will be long remembered as the first ever where the KKK, the KGB, and the FBI all supported the same candidate.
EC, you should be able to read a few Times stories before the gate goes down.
That said, the bit about inciting a riot has to do with Trump telling folks at his rallies that perhaps folks in support of the 2nd Amendment could stop Clinton, encouraging folks to "Lock her up!," etc.
As for his "audits," have you seen the results? The stories had to deal with his use of highly dubious, and now illegal, practices to make it look like he had no taxable income. While the practices apparently were borderline at the time, some of his attorneys urged him not to use them at the time, and they're now illegal. Whether he continued to use them after they were made illegal is hard to say, since he won't release his returns.
As to Supreme Court nominees, you could argue that point either way.
As for "Concerned Citizen," the Times being part of a state run media? That's laughable. Remember which paper broke the Pentagon Papers story? Or the 2015 Pulitzer they received for an investigative story that showed how the influence of lobbyists can sway congressional leaders and state attorneys general, slanting justice toward the wealthy and connected?Or the 2013 Pulitzer they landed for a series that penetrated a legal thicket to explain how the nation’s wealthiest citizens and corporations often exploited loopholes and avoided taxes?
And there are more.
Kurt,
I don't subscribe to the Times so can't read your links. Would be interested in your actual accusations. You mention taxes. What exactly is the tax issue? He has been audited virtually every year and I have yet to see any charge of tax evasion.
As to inciting riots, we have the evidence that it was the Clinton team that was sending instigators to rallies for exactly that purpose. And I would be interested in the actual quote of Trump threatening the life of a presidential nominee.
You bring up partisanship and the Supreme Court, seperately but they are related. Hillary has said she will appoint SC Justices that will support her goals. Her criteria isn't whether they will uphold the law or protect the Constitution but whether they will enable her agenda. That is as partisan as you can get and extremely in contradiction with what our Founding Fathers wanted from our Supreme Court.
Political favoritism by the FBI? The only "favoritism" was they didn't pursue her back in July because of Justice Department obstruction.
I will agree with you, neither candidate is particularly appealing. One commits perjury, treason, illegally funds their campaign, exposes classified information and sells political access while the other is boorish and says mean things.
How do you become worth $200 million serving the public trust? I know how Mr. Trump made his money, but how did Secretary Clinton make hers? That is what the nation should be asking.
Years ago, in 1992, I voted for Bill Clinton. But I was holding my nose even then. The story out of Arkansas, as told by THE NEW YORK TIMES (yes, it was still a great newspaper then) was very disturbing to this environmentalist. It seemed that the worst land skinning corporations in the country, starting with Tyson's Foods, had headed straight for the Ozarks, where Mr. Clinton, like any good southern governor, turned a blind eye to their pollution. I later confirmed how much pollution while on the board of NPCA. But that is confidential, and we needn't go there here. After all, we have the record. Speaking of which, Wal-Mart, which by using retrail has turned America into a Third World Country, was also front and center in the Clintons' "upbringing."
History shows that few leopards change their spots. Will Ms. Clinton suddenly be concerned about the national parks? You dream. Will she be concerned about the public lands? You bet, and will, as has Mr. Obama, turn them over to corporations as fast as she can. She said she will. She's all for solar and wind, and that means, for the Southwest alone, 40 million acres lost to the public.
I don't buy the notion that the Democratic Party is any friend of the public lands. They've sold us on that notion, but their actions don't match it. Nor is the Republican Party these days the party of Theodore Roosevelt, or for that matter Richard Nixon, who happens to have signed a great deal of environmental legislation that Mr. Obama keeps trying to get around, most notably the Endangerd Species Act (1973).
If you want to support your party, fine, but remember that it is just a party and not a collection of saints. They were burned at the stake years ago by both political parties. These days, American politics, plain and simple, are all about who gets what from whom. Secretary Clinton has always wanted to be rich. Now she is. She didn't get that way running for sainthood, and now to see her criticize Mr. Trump for being rich is laughable in the extreme. So what else can she say? He is rude, lewd, and crude. Well, look in the mirror, Madam Secretary. I hear you swear like a longshoreman at your staff. And if you didn't divorce Bill for his shennigans 20 years ago, don't complain about Mr. Trump's.
Let's simply be clear what the presidency is. It is not Pope; it is indeed president, and most American presidents have been flawed. Next week, we all get to pick our flaw. When we do, there will be hell to pay, no matter who it is. I simply hope that my pick, when I criticize him or her for failing to protect the national parks, does not call me a racist or sexist for having dared criticize the White House. Yes, I am sick and tired of that.
Again, I have to differ from Alfred, as we know Clinton's husband was pretty good to the Dept. of the Interior, why would we expect anything different with her? Most notably because I work for Interior, I have observed in my 20 years that republicans are never as generous in land acquisition as democrats.
The main thing is that Trump does not believe in climate change, so you see he is clueless and dangerous.