Forests Quotes
Many people when they first read this quote assume that it came from some counter-culture radical. It did, but he was a President of the United States.
Yet today California is a battleground for fights over preservation of old growth forest. In the 1800s the Indians thought old growth forests bad for hunting. Yet Indians are generally thought of as being more environmentally responsible than most.
The reason for the secrecy was that he was informing Congress of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Potentially, the Spanish, English or French might try to interfere with the expedition which was the precursor to American domination of the entire continent. Unfortunately, Jefferson’s plan for the Indians was not supported by many other Americans with the exception of New York State and the Iroquois remaining after many left after supporting the British in the Revolution. But the Iroquois who remained were already farmers in fixed communities and were experienced traders. Further, they had a complex governmental structure with many elements of democracy, and several had already succeeded in European educational settings. Their successful integration with the rest of New York can be demonstrated by the fact that New York is the only state where the average Native American Income is the same as the average white income, and there is no Indian gaming in New York. Jefferson’s vision, unfortunately, was never implemented in early the Westward Expansion.
Many developing counties have much of their population whose livelihood depends on use of resources and methods which are damaging to the environment, and the majority of the citizens of the country would rather damage the environment than not develop. Some leaders observe that the United States and most affluent nations historically developed in large part by destroying much of the environment, and they have a right to develop also.
