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The 10 Greenest Presidents in U.S. History
1. The Father of a Modern Movement
In many ways, being green has never been easier, especially for politicians. The vast majority of Americans now say environmental protection is important to them, and few would vote for a leader who explicitly claims to be “anti-environment.”
But America’s highest office has long had a relationship to the planet that is anything but straightforward. Given enormous social, economic and political changes in our nation’s history, ranking presidents on green criteria is no easy task. This list couldn’t possibly reflect all the issues involved, but it is a subjective look at highlights in the evolution of environmental policy and protection.
To begin, when most Americans think of green presidents, they probably envision Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909). “TR” consistently lobbied Congress for wilderness protection, used the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 to set aside 150 million acres of timberland as public domains, and oversaw creation of the U.S. Forest Service. Roosevelt also created 50 wildlife refuges and five national parks.
Beyond those accomplishments, TR is well remembered as popularizing the ideas of good resource stewardship and respect for nature. That’s not to say everything was idyllic in those years of heavy logging, mining, urbanization and rapid human expansion, but seeds of consciousness were sown.
2. The Sweater-Wearing Efficiency Expert
In response to the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) created the Department of Energy in 1977, with a key goal being the establishment of a national energy policy that promoted clean and alternative fuels. Carter famously installed solar panels on the White House roof and set the mansion’s thermostats at 68 degrees to save energy.
Carter’s 1977 speech calling on the country to drastically ramp up energy efficiency and conservation is truly inspiring and ahead of its time. Backing that up, in 1979, Carter implemented “corporate average fuel economy” (CAFE) standards that mandated fuel-efficient cars — although those standards would soon be relaxed.
President Carter also oversaw passage of a number of other important laws, including the Soil and Water Conservation Act, the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, the Antarctic Conservation Act, the Endangered American Wilderness Act and the Superfund Act (remember when laws that sound green actually were green?). Tighter amendments were passed on the Clean Air Act, and the Alaskan National Interest Lands Conservation Act conserved more than 100 million acres and 26 rivers in America’s Last Frontier.
Since leaving office, Carter has won world renown for his humanitarian work, particularly through Habitat for Humanity, which has recently been going green and promoting green building.
3. The Scientist, Philosopher and Idealist
Brilliant Renaissance man Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) is well known as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. Few also know that Jefferson was an avid botanist, scientist, architect, inventor, planner and philosopher (as well as slave owner, unfortunately). Jefferson believed in respecting and working with nature, and envisioned a society of small farmers living in harmony with the environment.
As president Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on a groundbreaking voyage of exploration and research across America, after having secured the Louisiana Purchase. So little was known about the continent by whites that the explorers were asked to look for evidence of still-living wooly mammoths. Lewis and Clark then became the first to document many of America’s indigenous species, as well as peoples.
Thomas Jefferson also founded a pioneering institution of higher learning, the University of Virginia, and advocated for good public education, including science. He also thought corporate power should be kept in check.
4. Not Perfect But Still Pretty Good
Environmentalists often sigh when they muse on Bill Clinton’s legacy (1993-2001), which isn’t as green as one might hope, particularly since he had Al Gore as Vice President. During the Clinton years resource extraction on public lands proceeded at record pace. The administration is also blamed for being unable to secure support for the Kyoto Protocol or other major efforts to prevent global warming.
Clinton did get quite a number of things done, however. He used executive orders to create 17 new national monuments, and expand four more, preserving more than 4.6 million acres, more than any other administration. Clinton also increased protection for wetlands and old-growth forests and finalized a sweeping rule that banned road building on nearly 60 million acres of wilderness in national forests. The administration also extended an existing moratorium on offshore oil leases — something that is now hotly debated.
Clinton did secure more than $3 billion — a 50% increase in annual funding — to research and develop clean energy technologies. He also strengthened the Drinking Water Act, advanced cleanup of Superfund sites, and bolstered the EPA’s ability to go after polluters (something else that wouldn’t last).
5. The Reluctant Environmentalist
Richard Nixon (1969-1974) was president during tumultuous times, and is consistently rated as one of the country’s most disliked leaders, in no small part because of his role in the Watergate scandal. But Richard Nixon had also faced tremendous pressure to do something for the environment, after 20 million people took to the streets on Earth Day in 1970.
Responding to a 60s-era public, Nixon signed the bills that established the Environmental Protection Agency and the landmark Clean Air Act. Going further, in 1972 Nixon signed the Coastal Zone Management Act; the Ocean Dumping Act; the Marine Mammal Protection Act; the Federal Insecticide, Fungide, Rodenticide Act; and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Nixon’s term also saw passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974.
Inheriting a deeply troubled country in the throes of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) showed innovative leadership. In order to put people to work and improve and protect the landscape, FDR created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Part of his New Deal, more than 2.5 million Americans planted millions of trees, opened summer camps, improved parks and trails, battled soil erosion and safeguarded other infrastructure and the environment.
FDR’s terms also saw creation of the Soil Conservation Service and the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act. Soil began to be viewed as an invaluable, and largely non-renewable, resource, and measures were taken to promote long-term productivity and soil health. The country truly began to realize the importance of protecting natural wealth for future generations.
7. The Great Unifier
Consistently rated as America’s greatest president, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) is best known for leading the country through the Civil War and ending slavery. Few people also know that the “Rail Splitter” did quite a bit to protect the environment as well.
Lincoln established California’s spectacular Yosemite Valley and its Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias as a public trust, marking the first time land was set aside specifically for public enjoyment (and laying the groundwork for the national parks system).
In 1862 Lincoln established the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In 1863 he authorized the establishment of the National Academy of Sciences, which would go on to lead the world in promoting and fostering innovation.
Controversial for his authoritative style and role in the Vietnam War, Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) also spearheaded civil rights laws, and his “Great Society” bolstered education and established Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs, as well as several environmental initiatives.
Johnson’s policies supported urban renewal, beautification and conservation. In 1964 the president signed the Wilderness Act, which was written by the Wilderness Society, and which protected more than 9 million acres of federal land. The Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 provided matching grants for large-scale rail projects.
These days, greens probably remember LBJ best for his wife, the venerable Lady Bird Johnson, who tirelessly advocated for protection of natural resources. The First Lady promoted parks and beautification projects, fought to restrict billboards and worked to protect and plant millions of wildflowers. She is famous for saying “where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Lady Bird continued her conservation work until she died in 2007.
9. The Well-Meaning Progressive
Often regarded as among the brightest presidents, Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) had been a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era. He led a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation that included the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act and the Federal Reserve System.
Wilson oversaw creation of the National Park Service in 1916, which has long been considered one of the great treasures of the nation. He also spearheaded the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which established cooperative extension services through the land-grant universities to disseminate information on agriculture and other topics.
Wilson’s anti-trust and labor laws probably helped set the stage for future environmental regulations, by increasing government oversight of corporate America.
Like many Americans at the time, John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) was reportedly influenced by Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book Silent Spring. As a result the president established a committee to investigate the impacts of pesticides on health and the environment. The subsequent report was critical of the industry and lax government policies.
This investigation would help lay the groundwork for the establishment of the EPA and modern environmental protection laws.
JFK’s brother (and attorney general) Robert F. Kennedy spoke passionately about the need to curtail consumption and protect the planet in 1968, shortly before he was assassinated. Today, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. serves as one of the country’s leading advocate lawyers and environmentalists.
It’s too early to judge Obama’s full environmental record, but so far his administration has successfully rolled back some Bush-era challenges (such as the Global Gag Rule on family planning aid and an attempted sell-off of “roadless” wilderness areas). Obama’s EPA under Lisa Jackson has returned to the business of fining polluters and attempting to address global warming.
Many greens, international leaders and global citizens are deeply disappointed that Obama has failed to show strong leadership on aggressive mitigation of climate change, though Obama supporters are quick to point fingers at vehement opposition from the GOP. Similarly, the president has not been able to stop the mountaintop removal mining juggernaut. For their part, the Center for Biological Diversity gave Obama a grade of C- for the first half of his term, also citing the administration’s failure to ban lead ammunition and fishing tackle and for only listing eight new endangered species in the lower 48.
Obama has earned praise for supporting electric vehicles and clean energy, although actual progress remains to be seen, given budgetary woes, political bickering and the entrenched power of fossil fuels.
Article excerpted from www.thedailygreen.com
Bill Clinton Goes Vegan
Photo by Flickr User marcn
A year ago, Bill Clinton made headlines for his “almost vegan” diet. Now, he is in the spotlight again for his diet, claiming he is now 100 percent vegan.
PETA’s “Person of the Year” appears to be living up to his title by sharing his message about the health benefits of a vegan diet.
“I had played Russian roulette because even though I had changed my diet some and cut down on the caloric total of my ingestion and cut back on much of the cholesterol in the food I was eating,” Clinton said, according to the Boston Herald. “I still – without any scientific basis to support what I did – was taking in a lot of extra cholesterol without knowing it. So that’s when I made a decision to really change.”
Some studies have shown that vegans have a lower risk for developing diseases like cancer, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Bill Clinton not only wants to improve his own health but also the health of others. The Clinton Foundation has teamed up with the American Heart Association to provide better school lunches and promote exercise.
Article excerpted from www.organicbugblog.com
The reason to become a vegan is not only for diet purpose, it will also keep us to become a healthy person and have a lower risk of sickness or diseases.
Vegan: Great For Kids!
Bill Clinton and Mike Tyson have joined the ranks of Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi in adopting a vegan diet, clearly signaling the popularity of the diet among adults. What I’ve been hearing as I travel around the country, though, is that more and more kids are adopting a vegan way of eating, and some parents who are unfamiliar with it are curious about this new trend, especially since it’s so different from what they grew up with. So how should you react when your child announces one day, “Mom/Dad, that’s it — no more meat, dairy, or eggs for me!”?
First of all, be really happy. Children today are in the worst physical shape of any generation in history. One in three is overweight. One in five has an abnormal cholesterol level while still in high school. One in three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in his or her life, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A child who has decided to go vegetarian — or, better still, vegan — gains a measure of protection against all of these problems. And isn’t it a great thing that your child cares and is concerned about where his or her food comes from? Good job! Developing and acting on empathy is surely a good thing for everyone.
The American Dietetic Association, which reviewed all of the science on vegan and vegetarian diets, says that they are better for our children than diets that contain meat, dairy, and eggs. In the ADA’s position paper on plant-based diets, they write, “Vegetarian diets in childhood and adolescence can aid in the establishment of lifelong healthful eating patterns and can offer some important nutritional advantages.” As just one example, researchers studied a group of 1,765 children and adolescents in Southern California, and vegetarians were, on average, about an inch taller than their meat-eating friends.
That makes sense: Look at the many athletes who are now going vegan because it improves their endurance and performance: Mac Danzig, the Ultimate Fighting Championship winner, ultra-marathoner Rich Roll, tri-athlete Brendan Brazier, “Olympian of the Century” Carl Lewis, and football star Ricky Williams are but a few who nod to their diet as a big contribution to their success.
So as more and more of our kids adopt a vegan or vegetarian diet, we would be wise to join them. The American Dietetic Association explains: “Vegetarian diets are often associated with a number of health advantages, including lower blood cholesterol levels, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure levels, and lower risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index (BMI) and lower overall cancer rates.”
And vegan food is very easy to work into your routine: You just find the meals that work for the family and can go into your weekly rotation. Some very simple options include bean burritos, baked beans and veggie sausage, lentil soup, whole grain breads, pizza made with Daiya (cheese made from tapioca) or any other kind of non-dairy cheese, vegetable soups and salads, oatmeal, rice, quinoa (a complete protein grain), and non-dairy milks like rice, almond, oat, or soy. You might also want to check out some meat substitutes like veggie burgers and dogs, etc. Every mainstream grocery store now stocks Morningstar and Boca products, both of which are great transition foods for the new vegan. Best of all, they are well liked by most kids.
Are you one of those parents (close to 100 percent, in my experience) who worries about your child’s eating habits? According to Dr. Neal Barnard, faculty member of George Washington University School of Medicine and President of the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine:
Vegan children have better nutrition than other kids. This is in part because they are skipping the cholesterol and animal fat, and in part because as they search for new foods to eat (to replace the meat), they often discover and start eating healthy foods. While all kids are supposed to eat their veggies, according to the ADA, vegan and vegetarian kids actually do!
Here are two simple rules that ensure good nutrition:
- Each day, have foods from the four healthful food groups: whole grains, legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), vegetables, and fruits.
- Include a reliable source of vitamin B12, such as any common multiple vitamin or fortified foods.
Let’s consider a few key nutrients that are critical for growing children. Here’s what Dr. Barnard says:
Protein: There is ample protein in grains, vegetables, beans, and bean products (including tofu and soymilk). If your child consumes a normal variety of these foods over the course of a day, she will receive all the protein she needs.
Calcium: Green leafy vegetables and legumes — or “greens and beans,” for short–are rich in calcium. This is particularly true for broccoli, collards, kale, bok choy, and Brussels sprouts. Less valuable for calcium is spinach, because the calcium in spinach is poorly absorbed. You’ll also find plenty of calcium in fortified foods, such as fortified orange juice and most soy milks. And don’t fight over vegetables your child doesn’t like. Just serve the ones that do go over well. Tastes broaden as the years go by.
Iron: Greens and beans come to our rescue again. They are rich in iron. And vitamin-C-rich foods, such as citrus fruits, tend to enhance the absorption of iron consumed in the same meal. If you are concerned, a daily vitamin-mineral supplement will have you covered easily.
Vitamin B12 is essential for healthy blood and healthy nerves. It is not found in unfortified plant foods, although it is present in dairy products and eggs, which you may or may not be serving. But vitamin B12 is easy to find in many fortified breakfast cereals, fortified soymilk, and in all common multiple vitamins. I recommend that everyone — vegetarian or not — take a multiple vitamin or other convenient source of vitamin B12 every day. Studies show that meat-eaters often run low due to poor absorption.
Dr. Barnard goes on to say:
“If you are interested in trying soy-based meat substitutes, they may have health benefits. Girls who consume soymilk, tofu, or similar products on a daily basis during adolescence have significantly less risk of breast cancer in adulthood, compared to people who avoid soy. That said, soy products are not essential. There is plenty of good nutrition in the other beans, as well as in the broad range of vegetables, fruits, and grains.”
So how do you do it? Some of my friends “lean into it” as a family by starting off with Meatless Mondays and then progress to eating less and less meat, all the while getting more comfortable with adjusted menus. If your child wants to stick to a vegan diet while everyone else is catching up, you could serve him or her black bean burritos while the family has the regular with meat. You can use veggie meatballs (found in your grocer’s freezer section) in pasta instead of beef. And while everyone else is eating chicken with mashed potatoes, your child can enjoy Gardein chik’n (a plant-based high protein meat substitute that looks and tastes very much like chicken) and mashed potatoes made with non-dairy milk and Earth Balance non-dairy butter.
A stir fry with tofu, rice, and veggies is super fast and tasty for everyone, as is a hearty chili with beans and veggie protein crumbles (again, found in your grocer’s freezer). It’s really quite easy to “veganize” your favorite family traditions. Good snacks are bagels with peanut or almond butter, whole grain pretzels, or apples and bananas. And a great way to sneak in a veggie for your child is to make a smoothie with juice or non-dairy milk, blueberries and banana; then throw in a handful of frozen broccoli. You can’t taste the broccoli (I promise!) and because of the blueberries, your kids won’t see green!
Happy Eating!
Article excerpted from www.huffingtonpost.com
