Those who love and appreciate nature do not always act to protect it. An astounding statistic in the Fall 2024 Audubon Magazine article Birds of a Feather Vote Together quantified this disconnect:
“8 million is the estimated number of environmentalists who did not vote in the 2020 election.”
The 2020 presidential election and the upcoming 2024 election have many things in common, including one candidate who is openly hostile to the environment and has already demonstrated his ability to harm it during his previous term as President. The agendas of the two parties in this year’s presidential election could not be farther apart with respect to protecting our magnificent natural heritage.
If you visit, appreciate, love, cherish or like nature in any way shape or form, know that its very existence is imperiled by the candidate with orange hair. As one example, he wanted to drastically reduce the size of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. While President in 2017, he ordered an 85% reduction of Bear’s Ears NM from 1.35 million acres to 201,397 acres. Robin Wall Kimmerer refers to this betrayal in her recent book The Serviceberry: “…making relationships led to the historic intertribal agreements with the U.S. government to protect the cultural landscape of the Bears Ears as the first tribally focused national monument. Five different tribes nurtured relationships with the federal government to forever protect an earthly gift to be held in common. This was a transformative step toward healing a long history of colonial taking. That hopeful model of Indigenous economics was abruptly curtailed when Donald Trump reversed the decision and instead conveyed those sacred rights to a private uranium-mining company. It took an election to reverse it.
Bears Ears was established in 2014 by Barack Obama. It was the first National Monument created with major support and input from Native American tribes including Navaho, Hopi, Zuni, Ute, and Ute Mountain. This was a historic triumph in protecting outstanding natural and cultural resources.
Fortunately, through legal actions led by Earthjustice, NRDC, and the five Tribes involved, Bears Ears was re-protected following concerted efforts to compromise and exploit it by the Trump administration and the state of Utah. Later, under President Biden and Deb Haaland as Secretary of Interior, the monument was restored to its former size and glory.
Bears Ears has a stunning variety of landforms, most in beautiful reddish hues. Located adjacent to Canyonlands National Park, it significanty enhances the ecological features and biodiversity of the region. Since its inception, more than 400,000 visitors come annually to Bears Ears. My wife and came last spring and were enchanted by its spectacular beauty and cultural significance. We hiked into its vast meadows, tallied birds, wildflowers, other wildlife, and saw some of the finest petroglyphs we had ever seen in North America.
Conservation of outstanding natural and cultural areas all comes back to voting. Once elected, Presidents appoint cabinet members. Consider the lack of environmental stewardship shown by these three nefarious former Secretaries of the Interior — all appointed by Republican presidents: James Watt was ranked among the Top Ten Worst Cabinet Members by Time Magazine; Ryan Zinke was regarded by The Wilderness Society as “The worst Interior Secretary ever; and David Bernhart’s “legacy” was to undermine science and keep the public out of decision-making while making it easier for energy companies to drill and mine public lands.
Historically, Republicans were pro-conservation. Teddy Roosevelt, one of the greatest conservationists of all time, famously said “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.”
Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and signed the Clean Air Act. Gerald Ford, a former Yellowstone Park Ranger, added 18 new areas to the National Park system while he was president. Ronald Reagan signed the Wilderness Act in 1984. Mitt Romney, a U.S. Senator and former Republican Presidential candidate, favors a balanced approach between energy production and conservation. As a member of the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus, Romney takes climate change seriously: “The United States can and should be a worldwide leader in energy production and in developing solutions to climate change…It’s imperative that we do our part to protect our planet for future generations”.
Since Romney last ran for president, the Republican Party has largely abandoned concern for the environment. Instead, they have appointed saboteurs to the Department of Interior and the EPA. Democrats, on the other hand, have acted to protect the environment through their leadership of the Infrastructure Act, which provided funding for solar and wind industries (much of which went to “red” states), and the 2030 plan for sustainable development. The Trump administration weakened or removed 210 environmental regulations. Meanwhile, Americans have NOT abandoned the environment as a priority. A 2024 Gallup Poll found that 50% of Americans feel the U.S. government is doing too little to protect the environment.
This is why it is important to vote, so your concern for the environment (and other issues) is heard. Not only are national votes on environmental issues important, but so are state and local votes ranging from State Lands Commissioners to Governors, Mayors, City and County Council members and on the many initiatives put forth to the voters. Audubon magazine offered the slogan “I bird, I vote.” Everyone who experiences and appreciates nature should vote. Our incredible natural areas hang in the balance as does the sustainability of the planet we leave behind for future generations. Vote for their future.
