Connecting Past and Present
March 28, 2025 By: Alyx Mcintosh
The Seattle Times article Trump moves to increase logging in national forests (Friedman, 2015) details Donald Trumps plans to ramp up logging operations across the united states. Accordingly, in hopes of increasing domestic lumber supply, Trump is trying to find ways to bypass and streamline environmental regulations and endangered species protection, in order to reduce production costs. This reminded me of the Hetch Hetchy project, which pursued the construction of a dam in the Yosemite National Park. In both instances, Government officials were pursuing protected land in order to cut costs for each respective issue (water shortage and cost of imports). Both deal with the preservation of nature over the potential benefits for its citizens (Friedman, 2015).
The International Solid Waste Association’s article The Hidden peril of lithium-ion batteries: A call for responsible disposal (Nageler-Petritz, 2025) explains how improper disposal of lithium batteries can cause fires. When batteries mixed in with municipal garbage or recycling, they are at risk of being crushed, punctured, or short circuited, and lead to fire. I feel that this issue relates to Pinchot’s Principles of Conservation. Pinchot addresses both issues of waste management and forest fire management. He notes that forest fires are indeed in our control, similarly, by properly disposing of lithium batteries we can avoid these types of fires (Nageler-Petritz, 2025).
Hey Alyx, thank you for your contribution! The comparison between Trump’s plan to increase logging and the Hetch Hetchy project is really interesting, as they are both examples of exploiting protected land for economic purposes. While access to lumber supply, as well as addressing water shortages are both really important considerations for civilization, there is a fine line between “enough” and “too much”. Generally, protected lands fall under the “too much” area of resource extraction, however, corporate greed all too often overlooks the intersectional consequences of their actions.
Pinchot’s idea of conserving resources wisely fits both situations, showing the importance of finding a balance between progress and protection.
Thanks again for your post!