Speaking to a half-filled Geneen Auditorium as part of a two-day Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences symposium on "Landscape Legacies," outgoing United States Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit offered his views Monday on proper management and preservation of the country's public lands.
Babbit challenged the traditional notions that public lands are automatically open to economic exploitation.
He called for a re-evaluation of the way these lands are managed, and he argued that the overall economic benefits of some traditional mining operations should be weighed against long-term economic and cultural changes. He presented as an example the case of gold mining, where the damage of chemical runoff may outweigh modern America's need for the precious metal.
"What is the value of gold in the 21st century economy?" asked Babbit. "It's cosmetic."
Babbit also encouraged his audience, largely made up of scientists, not to shy away from presenting land conservation as an affirmation of public values.
"The Endangered Species Act is the most visionary, widely understood and popular of environmental laws because it embodies a moral vision," Babbit said. "The American people believe in it because it's a covenant sealed by a rainbow in the sky."
Babbit said the utilitarian value of biodiversity has been overused in the past as an argument for land conservation; he believes the public would be more receptive to incorporating conservation as one of its core values.
"The natural world is a manifestation of creation," he said, suggesting the scientific community adopt a stance that responds in awe to beauty of the natural world.
Babbit expressed concern that recent environmentalists' actions may be reversed by the incoming Bush administration. "[My views] will soon be an artifact of the past," said Babbit.
The incoming administration will have to tackle a climate change problem, he said, that "we need to get serious about."
Babbit also said he does not believe that there is a giant resource crisis looming on the horizon that would warrant an invasion of public lands for mining purposes. He added that in many public lands that have already been released for use by the oil industry, the companies have yet to drill a well.
Additionally, Babbit predicted that the growing need to find alternative sources of energy will push the discussion toward the taboo subject of nuclear power.
"Use your science, but use it well," concluded Babbit. "Old paradigms aren't to be worshiped to the point of exclusion."
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