"Our Endangered Values": Reflection

First of all, I would just like to point this out. We, America, should have listened to Jimmy Carter when he proposed all of his ideas for protecting the environment. We should have listened to him when he came up with the crazy thought that we just might be wasting our resources. I know that this is in the past, but maybe it will teach us a lesson for the future, so that if someone has a crazy idea that just might be true, we don’t just ignore what he or she has to say. So, I would like to talk about the first major threat that he mentions in this section of his book. It’s about how we must protect the major National Parks in Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana. I feel very strongly about this topic, because this summer, I went on a week-long trip to Glacier National Park, in Montana. The reason it was named Glacier is for all the glaciers that were covering that particular mountain range. Well, when my parents and I got there, we were a little confused. We still expected to see glaciers everywhere, covering the ground, and having snow and ice everywhere. Apparently, there are only a few glaciers left. In the forties there were hundreds of glaciers. Most of them have melted because of global warming. What was really interesting on this trip was that they had pictures everywhere of what the park looked like seventy years ago, and then looking at it now. The difference is huge. What used to be solely ice is now fields with grass and flowers. It’s lovely, but of course, they are not glaciers. This is when I realized that global warming is not just something that some politicians made up to help their campaign, but it is real. One can’t blame all of this on global warming, however. What President Carter mentions in his book is industrialization. This can also be blamed for the National Parks being so different. More people are moving to areas around the parks, more businesses are cropping up around them, and the worst thing of all is the people drive their cars through the park. This is releasing harmful gas fumes into the mountain air. This is so sad, because at the rate we’re ruining the environment, our grandchildren may not live to see a glacier or a polar bear. This is what President Carter was talking about in his book. I believe that we have the same opinions on the environment, and I really wish this country would have listened to him in the first place. We might be in a completely different situation.