On the week of its centennial anniversary (August 25) the National Park System, along with the state of Maine and every American, received an 87,500-acre gift of beautiful Northwoods forest that President Obama just proclaimed as Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The land was generously donated to the American people by Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby and her family foundation, Elliotsville Plantation, Inc. A guarantee to safeguard the land in perpetuity was a condition of the gift, and President Obama relied on his authority under the Antiquities Act–a law established by Theodore Roosevelt–to secure the deal. The gift also includes a $20 million endowment to support planning, infrastructure and maintenance of new monument. This designation is particularly fitting to coincide with the National Park System Centennial. It has a lot in common with another Maine national monument designation that occurred just a month before the National Park Service was established. President Woodrow Wilson, responding to a similar private land donation and local initiative, created Sieur de Monts National Monument, which we all now know and love as Acadia National Park. “Establishing the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument allows the region and its economy to benefit from a remarkable land gift and monetary endowment, and on this 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, it shows the same vision and generosity that made Acadia National Park possible more than a century ago,” said CRS President David Jenkins. The Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument is next to Maine’s spectacular 209,644-acre Baxter State Park, home of Maine’s highest peak, Mt. Katahdin (5,267 feet), and the Appalachian Trail’s northern terminus....
Several years ago, 2012 to be exact, when new efficiency standards for light bulbs first kicked in, there was a hue and cry from talk radio hosts. They lamented the death of the “Edison light bulb” and told listeners that the government was forcing everyone to switch to inferior, “mercury-laced,” compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Some even partnered with retailers to frantically urge their audience to stockpile the old inefficient bulbs. It wasn’t long before some lawmakers jumped on the bandwagon and introduced legislation to block the standards, which were part of a 2007 bi-partisan energy bill signed into law by President George W. Bush. Congressman Michael Burgess (R-TX) introduced various measures trying to block the standards or prohibit enforcement, and libertarian Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), citing an Ayn Rand novel, ranted about how consumer choice was being “crushed beneath the boot heel of the collective.” All of this angst was based entirely on talk-radio fiction. The truth was quite different. U.S. light bulb manufacturers, who were behind the push for nationwide efficiency standards, had already retooled their factories to produce improved incandescent bulbs that would meet the new standards, generating light with less waste heat. In fact, those new bulbs—which produced the exact same kind of light as the old versions—were already on store shelves more than six months before the standards went into effect. The lighting manufacturers also knew that CFLs were rapidly being squeezed out of the market. On price, the new improved incandescent bulbs were cheaper, and on quality, LED bulbs were longer lasting and far more efficient. Fast forward to today. Now that these light bulb...
Revered conservative author Russell Kirk once wrote in an op-ed, “Nothing is more conservative than conservation.” He was right. What could possibly be more conservative than safeguarding the air, water, land, wildlife and natural systems that sustain and enhance life on earth? Responsible stewardship, whether it be to protect our fiscal health, our traditions and values, or the environment, has always been a hallmark of genuine conservatism.Theodore Roosevelt’s great accomplishments in land and wildlife conservation, Nixon’s efforts to reign in air and water pollution, and President Reagan’s leadership in repairing the earth’s ozone layer, were all born out of a strong stewardship ethic. We need for that same ethic to be much more prevalent in the hearts and minds of our leaders today–especially those who profess to be conservative. Recently Congressman Chris Gibson and ten other Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling for conservative engagement on climate change. Passing that resolution would be a good start. Here is a video introduction to the conservative ideas about natural resource stewardship that CRS champions. Join our movement to put the conserve back in conservatism. CRS_Conservative 1 from David Jenkins on...
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released a report showing that wind and solar power generation outpaced coal and gas in 2014. Wind generation increased by more than any other power source and solar generation more than doubled. Equally impressive, wind energy is dominating new power generation going forward. Out of 20 gigawatts in electricity generating capacity utilities expect to add to the grid in 2015, wind energy will account for 9.8 gigawatts–more than any other energy source. Natural gas comes in second with 6.3 gigawatts and solar third with 2.2 gigawatts. Those three sources combined account for 91 percent of the added capacity. Perhaps this explains the current “war on renewables” being waged by groups like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the American Energy Alliance. These groups, which have close ties to the fossil fuel conglomerate Koch Industries, are in print and on the airwaves constantly demonizing wind and solar. Even worse, they do this under the pretense of championing conservatism and defending the free-market—not as the special interests shills they really are. Their attacks often center on the premise that wind and solar are somehow inferior to fossil fuels and that these energy sources only exist because they are being propped up by government subsidies. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the EIA data shows, utilities are more and more choosing wind and solar over coal and gas. Why? Because diversifying their fuel mix with wind and solar helps keep their fuel costs down and their electricity rates more stable. Fossil fuel prices are very volatile—as anyone who drives a car or truck can attest. They can...
Those living in much of the Eastern and Central U.S. would likely be surprised to hear NOAA’s recent announcement that July 2014 was one of the hottest Julys on record. For many Americans, this has been one of the most comfortable summers in recent memory—no sweltering heat waves and triple digit heat indexes that are often the summer norm. In fact, twenty-five states saw a cooler than average July and a few experienced record low temperatures. Does this mean NOAA is wrong? No it doesn’t. While a few areas of the globe were cooler than average, most were warmer. July brought record heat to the U.S. West Coast, Norway and parts of Africa. The contradiction between the temperature in one place and the global average is an example of how weather systems and climate intersect. Weather systems will always influence what we experience at any given time and place. Sometimes that will align with global averages and trends, sometimes it won’t. This underscores why it is unwise to make assumptions about climate change based on localized and short-term weather conditions. Prudence dictates that we look at the big picture, which includes average global temperatures and long-term trends. The map below provides a good visual overview of how July temperatures, worldwide, compared to long-term...
Forty years ago the Endangered Species Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress and was signed into law by President Nixon. Both its enactment and longevity stand as a shining examples of good stewardship and as a testament to our ability to come together to act in the best interest of what President Reagan called “this magical planet of ours.” What many people—on both the political right and left—may not recognize is that the Act is a very conservative law. The fathers of traditional conservative thought—including British statesman Edmund Burke, American political theorist Russell Kirk, and conservative philosopher Richard Weaver—emphasized that prudent forethought, humility, a spirit of piety, and responsible stewardship are core conservative principles. Just a few years before the Endangered Species Act was signed into law, Kirk pointed out that “nothing is more conservative than conservation.” Years earlier, Weaver lamented humankind’s tendency to disregard nature in the name of progress. He warned that “Triumphs against the natural order of living exact unforeseen payments,” and astutely pointed out: “…man is not the lord of creation, with an omnipotent will, but a part of creation, with limitations, who ought to observe a decent humility in the face of the inscrutable.” Conservative poet T.S. Eliot put it more succinctly when he observed that “A wrong attitude towards nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude towards God.” From the deliberate and cruel efforts to eradicate wolves and grizzly bears, to the more inadvertent actions that drove the bald eagle—our national symbol—to the brink of extinction, history is full of examples of humankind’s intolerance of wildlife and ignorance of its needs. Too...
