Embodied within CRP's mission is the recognition that our environment and its natural resources must be managed in a sustainable fashion. When uncontrolled growth and consumption are allowed to degrade the environment to the point where entire species of animal and plant life waver on the edge of extinction, we threaten our own quality of life. Recognizing this truth and the rate of environmental deterioration taking place, we have begun to address the problem through legislation such as the Endangered Species Act and through changes in our living style such as recycling our waste. We already have taken some big steps, but the time has not yet come to relax our efforts. Arguments presented by opponents of environmental protection focus on very real concerns, but fail to address the larger picture.
Government regulations restrict our actions, but they are enacted for a reason.
In a society as large and diverse as ours, it is necessary at times to restrain individual activity for the common good. Current moves to subvert environmental protections threaten long term economic and environmental health in the name of short term special interests. Another reasonable argument points out that jobs and development are often put on to protect an endangered species or a sensitive ecosystem. We do not need to sacrifice jobs for the environment, we only need to adapt them to modern conditions, where resources are finite and ecosystems are threatened. It has an infinite power to regenerate itself, no matter what havoc we wreak.