The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a nonprofit focused on the protection of species and habitats from the threats facing them, namely climate change and development. With a stated mission to "conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends," TNC has five major areas of interest: protecting non-ocean water, action on climate change, saving oceans, conserving land, and transforming cities. TNC accomplishes its goals through a variety of actions, such as conservation science research, financing projects, and partnering with private sector companies and governments. TNC's vision is to create "a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives." …show more content…
Four years later, it created the Land Preservation Fund, its primary U.S. conservation instrument by which TNC acquires land (Our History). TNC currently owns about 2 million acres of U.S. land and holds another 3 million acres in conservation easements that limit the amount and kind of use that privately-owned land can be subjected to while offering the owner tax benefits and property rights (About Us: Private Lands). In 1966, TNC arranged the first government co-op. The deal saw TNC buy Mason Neck, VA in order to sell it to the federal government after which it was made a protected park area. These actions set precedents that impacted that practice of conservation. More recently in 2007, TNC purchased 161,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks which will be sold to both the government and private investment companies dedicated to its conservation. With this purchase, formerly owned by a paper company that relied on the region's deforestation, TNC can help connect the already-protected forests in the Adirondacks to create a truly massive reserve: 800,000 acres larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, and Glacier National Parks together (Back to the Adirondacks). Importantly, the deal included exceptions to allow local loggers to continue their work for a period of time. This synthesis between local people's economic well-being and preservation is key to …show more content…
While every action performed by the TNC may not be wholly compatible to its vision, and in fact some seem wholly incompatible, these do not nullify the hundreds of positive conservation impacts that TNC implements. To condemn the organization because of a few scandals is unfair its overwhelmingly constructive efforts. Its massive store of capital, property, organization, reputation, and faculties for various measures of protection, from litigation to education, make TNC a powerful player in the global conservation effort. By its sheer size and influence, TNC has the ability to effectually carry out its mission, even if it sometimes works inefficiently because of that size and the bureaucracy through which it operates. Within the liberal global system, however, size and influence of an NGO are the most important factors for relevance, and for that reason, TNC is a successful environmental
In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the act that creates the National Park Service This was a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior that was responsible for protecting the thirty-five national parks and mountains, which
by forbidding the sale of any land within the reserve unless it was turned over to the
Despite protecting millions of acres of wilderness, this act provided for the numerous groups of people affected by the establishment of this law. Stipulations regarding the use of protected lands by private landowners were made. People living inside the park lands were guaranteed the right to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as the guaranteed access to their lands. This right of access is the main concern for this argument, as it is a major management issue for park officials and land owners alike.
spanned millions of acres, is now a mere 1,800 mile National Park, dedicated to preventing the
The environment and the health of the surrounding population go hand in hand. The Environmental Protection Agency takes on this ever so important mission of protecting them both. The mission statement of the EPA states, “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Small Business Programs is to support the protection of human health and the environment by advocating and advancing the business, regulatory, and environmental compliance concerns of small and socio-economically disadvantaged businesses, and minority academic institutions (US Enviromental Protection Agency, 2010).” The impact of its mission can be defined clearly as it examines the impact of contamination in the air, the water, and the land on human health.
Since its creation in 1916, the National Park Service (NPS) has had to balance between its two goals, which are to preserve wilderness and nature and to provide the public with access to these wonders in a monitored environment. These two goals tend to create a conflict for the NPS because as soon as one goal is given more priority than the other, the administration of national parks is harshly criticized by the public. The accusation that by allowing people to experience the wilderness, the NPS is corrupting the natural environment is very common, as well, as the criticism towards the lack of government funding to preserve nature and history. However, regardless of arguable criticism and a certain need for improvement, after one hundred years,
Thirteen years ago, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Of two potential locations considered (Snowflake Springs and Butte Rock) they were placed in the low-risk prey Butte Rock for the purpose of encouraging the wolves to spread out and create packs. Before and during the reintroduction project, Oregon State University researchers measured the rate of willow growth along 2.6 miles of the Gallatin River, which ran through Butte Rock and Snowflake Springs. During their study from 1998 to 2002, the researchers discovered that Snowflake Springs, where the elk were and no wolves lived, the willow growth dropped from 92% to nothing (“How Wolves Help Willows,” 4).
Who is being organized is also an important factor. Regarding the Sierra Club, a range of people were organized. Whether rich, educated, businessmen, farmers, or women, environmental protection is important to...
Being rich in natural resources, the region contains some of the richest mineral deposits in America (Daugneaux 1981). The coal, timber, oil, gas, and water contained within the Appalachian Mountains are resources that have historically influenced the economic characteristics of the region. The Region's economy has been highly dependent on mining, forestry, agriculture, chemical industries, and heavy industry, among which coal mining appears to be the largest financial contributor to the economy. Although half of the U.S. electricity comes from coal energy, many Americans now precious little about the earth-ravaging mining practice called mountaintop-removal mining used to extract coal in Southern Appalachia. The radical strip-mining process literally blow the tops off mountains with thousands of pounds of explosives to reach thin seams of coal. They then dump millions of tons of rubble and toxic waste into the streams and valleys below the mining sites. The mining poisons drinking water, destroys beautiful forests and wildlife habitat, increases the risk of flooding, and wipes out entire communities. There are four distinctive people groups that are involved in the mountaintop removing process, the coal companies, the Appalachians, environmental groups and the federal court. To fully understand the way natural resources have been understood, used, and allocated, it is important to recognize this diversity. In this paper I will identify the approach to resource management of these four groups in this mountaintop-removal mining case respe...
In Title I of NEPA, our government recognizes the immutable link between mankind's dealings and the impacts on the environment. People have an individual responsibility to the world around them. The Constitution assures us "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." However, "life" is undefined. We, as human beings, have the superiority to nurture and preserve all forms of life. Transitions in population growth (or decline), urban spread, industry expansions and technological advances are critical in determining and modifying the ever-changing needs of the environment. Extensive research and planning with State and local government allows NEPA to anticipate, possibly even predict, an environmental disaster before it occurs. These measures are to insure the most beneficial use of our natural resources, to preserve our Nation's history as well as encourage individuality, to search for improvements in recycling our resources and the discovery of new ones. These goals are sought after in a systematic manner to include the most recent available data that could promote or reject proposals for changes t...
To understand the nature-society relationship means that humans must also understand the benefits as well as problems that arise within the formation of this relationship. Nature as an essence and natural limits are just two of the ways in which this relationship can be broken down in order to further get an understanding of the ways nature and society both shape one another. These concepts provide useful approaches in defining what nature is and how individuals perceive and treat
Conca, K., & Dabelko, G. D. (2010). Institutions of Global Environmental Governance. In K. Conca, & G. D. Dabelko, Green Planet Blues (pp. 117-124). Boulder: Westview Press
Political ecology began in the 1960s as a response to the neglect of the environment and political externalities from which it is spawned. Political ecology is the analysis of social forms and humans organizations that interact with the environment, the phenomena in and affecting the developing world. Political ecology also works to provide critiques and alternatives for negative reactions in the environment. This line of work draws from all sorts of fields, such as geography, forestry, environmental sociology, and environmental history in a complex relationship between politics, nature, and economics. It is a multi-sided field where power strategies are conceived to remove the unsustainable modern rationality and instead mobilize social actions in the globalized world for a sustainable future. The field is focused in political ethics to refresh sustainability, and the core questions of the relationships between society and ecology, and the large impacts of globalization of humanized nature.
Just as governmental agencies have run into problems internationally when it comes to agreeing on environmental issues, NGOs have come across similar obstacles in their attempt to protect the environment. The usual rivalry of northern industrialized views opposing those of the emerging southern ideals can be seen at the level of NGOs as well.
middle of paper ... ... resources, and improved understanding of environmental implications of harvesting and trade of forest products. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is another important and effective step towards the rectification of Deforestation. Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) play an important, but in some cases, inappropriate role in rectifying the problem. NGO’s like Green Peace and the World Wildlife Fund are two such NGO’s.