white1991misfortune
“The boundaries of the American West are a series of doors pretending to be walls.” (3)
Chapter 19
Environmentalism has roots in the older conservation movement and preservation movement (emphasis on efficient use of resources and devotion to preserving “wilderness”, respectively), but environmentalists possessed a broader concern than either parent group. “Although they often spoke in terms of wilderness and efficient use of resources, the distinctive views of environmentalists stressed the health of ecosystems and the fundamental biological wellbeing of the planet. Without the larger social changes going on in the metropolitan West, environmentalist advocacy (let alone successful advocacy) of restrictions on development would have been impossible.” (552)
Americans after World War II in metropolitan areas were less concerned about scarcity and more interested in quality of life. “More and more metropolitan residents viewed the land not in terms of its resources it produced but rather in terms of the experiences it could provide.” (552)