Gifford Pinchot knew the value of the media in spreading his message of forest conservation. The founding chief of the U.S. Forest Service frequently submitted articles to the popular press – to his considerable advantage.
Now Char Miller, Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College, has collected a sampling of Pinchot’s essays for modern-day readers. You’ll be surprised at how timely they seem. Their eloquence and impact is enduring.
Penn State University Press officially released “Gifford Pinchot: Selected Writings” on Friday, June 9. Miller is also author of “Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism” (2004) and “Public Lands, Public Debates: A Century of Controversy” (2012).
To celebrate his new book’s release Miller selected excerpts from an essay from the collection for publication online by the National Forest Foundation.
“This article,” he said, “is an example of Pinchot’s conviction that the Forest Service’s mission, and conservation in general, could not succeed without significant support from the American people. Originally published in The Outlook, Pinchot’s essay reflects his dedication to cultivating that essential engagement so crucial to the maintenance of a democratic society and its core values.”
From GIFFORD PINCHOt’s “THE ABC OF CONSERVATION” (1909)
The central thing for which Conservation stands is to make this country the best possible place to live in, both for us and for our descendants. It stands against the waste of the natural resources which cannot be renewed, such as coal and iron; it stands for the perpetuation of the resources which can be renewed, like the food-producing soils and the forests; and, most of all, it stands for equal opportunity for every American citizen to get his fair share of benefit from these resources, both now and hereafter.
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