CHAP TER 1 History Earth’s Animals Environmentalism is a big word But its meaning is simple Practicing environmentalism means being a friend to Earth and all its creatures Environmentalists want to keep our air healthy our land clean and our water fresh They want to take care of our plants and animals by making sure our planet remains a safe place to live Some environmentalists focus on encouraging people to stop polluting Others encourage people to recycle One of the most important environmental jobs is to protect our plants and animals This type of environmentalism is called wildlife conservation 4 21st century skills library
Sea turtles are one of the many animals that are under special protection 5 55 Global Citizens environmentalism
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States 6 6
The Story of Wildlife Conservation Conservationists work to help plants and animals live safely in their own habitats Conservationists do this by making sure the plants and animals have the right food water and shelter needed to survive They protect plants and animals living in forests marshes grasslands beaches ponds rivers and oceans For centuries animals and plants lived freely and thrived in the wild But our human population grew and grew In the 1800s there were one billion people in the world Today that number has increased to over 7 billion People need food water and space to live But animals need these things too Today environmentalists are urging people to share these resources and this space They encourage people to build cities neighborhoods and roads without greatly affecting the homes of animals But this can be hard As time went on people began to understand that if we didn’t change our ways animals would suffer the most Some animals went extinct In 1901 Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States He created the US Forest Service USFS and passed the first laws to protect plants and animals This agency made sure animals plants and trees could live in peace 7777 Global Citizens environmentalism
