The Grand Canyon (and the Election)

It breaks my heart to know that in the year of the National Park Service Centennial we have chosen a President who will choose pipelines over parks and sacred lands, and likely support introducing a tram and other development in our most wild places, including the Grand Canyon. This park has always been under threat, and in 1908 Teddy Roosevelt was the only politician that truly recognized its value. Congress wouldn’t designate it as a National Park, and so TR used his powers under the Antiquities Act to protect it as a National Monument.

President Obama has done so much incredible work with the Antiquities Act protecting more land and water than any president in history, including TR. But there’s more to be protected from the imminent threat of a president who claims climate change is a hoax and has already considered exploratory drilling in protected Alaskan lands. There is more to our democracy than just voting every 4 years. Add your signature to a petition to Obama while there’s still time to declare monuments, donate money to organizations and take part in our civil society, maintain trails, bike more, use solar. Your actions will speak louder than your vote, especially in a year when more people in this country voted for reason and civility, but bigotry and prejudice still won.