MY ENVIRONMENTAL HERO: JOHN W. GARDNER

By Peter M. Wege

Americans used to have a devout, passionate belief in the future. Where did it go? A political leader asked me what was the most important thing any leader could do for the American people today, and I said, “Give them back their future!” 
John W. Gardner - Stanford Centennial Speech September 29, 1991

In the book I wrote in 1998 titled ECONOMICOLOGY: The Eleventh Commandment, I explained how John W Gardner’s changed my life. It happened in 1967 when he was our country’s Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.  That year HEW Secretary Gardner’s task force reported on the state of America’s environment after two years of research and study.  The title of that report, A Strategy for a Livable Environment, has been my environmental Bible ever since.

Reading that report turned me into an avid environmentalist, a passion I have carried ever since. I’ll never forget what Secretary Gardner said when I met him in person in the late sixties. We talked about the need for action to save the environment while there was still time. When I promised him I would do everything in my power to help make that happen, he said three words I’ve never forgotten. “Move, Wege, move!”

One of the “moves” I’ve made to help carry on John Gardner’s legacy is to speak up about major environmental threats. Secretary Gardner and I both agreed that perhaps the single most serious threat to the environment is too many people drawing off the planet’s finite natural resources.

In late 2006, I wrote a letter to the Grand Rapids Press on this subject that was published as the lead Letter to the Editor. I share it with you here because the problem is getting worse, not better.

Over-population is killing this planet, literally, and the leadership of the world is powerless to do anything about it. China is trying to do the best they can under the circumstances, because they understand the problem. But politically and religiously, they are powerless to create a government that can start to cure the problem.

The U.S. government is trying to figure out how to deal with immigration. Closing our borders is the only viable solution until we work out the problem of how many should be allowed into our country and for all the right reasons. They have to want to become loyal American citizens.

We finally have to figure how many people we can support based on our ability to provide a healthy and viable living experience.

This has to be based on the availability of natural resources and the farms to supply an adequate food supply, and the kind of democratic government that provides the kind of life the majority of our voting citizens feel is necessary for this to happen.

Because of John W. Gardner, I am still an outspoken environmental activist.  In his book On Leadership, Gardner said that “leaders should point us toward solutions to our problems.”  I intend to continue doing my part just as long as I can.