One way the American people get a glimpse into how American presidents see who we are as a nation — and, importantly, who they want us to be — is how they act as stewards of our country’s vast natural resources.
President Theodore Roosevelt preserved the Grand Canyon because in the rugged chasms carved by the Colorado River, he saw a landscape that echoed and nourished the wild character of a growing nation.
In creating the largest marine protected area in the world at the time — Papahanaumokuakea in the northwest Hawaiian Islands — President George W. Bush spoke of a moral call to conservation and a “duty to be good stewards of the Almighty’s creation.”
The above excerpt was originally published in The Washington Post.
Click here to view the full article.