Hammond on Conservation

From Chips from the Chopping Block:

"It is on this ground of conservation that i fail to find solid footing in the camp of those who term themselves political conservatives. At one time I naively felt that because of the common word root, a true conservative would, like Teddy Roosevelt, embrace conservation over uninhibited exploitation. Instead, most who deem themselves conservatives today scoff at concern over environmental issues like land and water abuse, global warming, endangered species, and population excess."

I, like Hammond, have often felt that a conservationist philosophy fits better with a true Burkean conservative philosophy than does aggressive philosophies towards development and against conservation. It seems to me that the conservative recognition that the world is complex, and therefore slow change is most desirable, fits in with our uncertainty about a range of political-environmental issues, including uncertainty around the costs of global warming, public health threats due to economic development, and various and sundry other concerns.

Edmund Burke, the conservative philosopher, it seems to me, would have also been an environmentalist.