The word “ethos” has to do with the practices and values of an individual, a group, or a society. An “ethos” is the collective moral nature, guiding beliefs, expressions, and principles by which people choose to live. A national ethos often evolves over a period of generations as people learn from life, understand more, and, hopefully, improve their practice of the values discussed in our educational institutions and, ideally, places of worship: How do we see ourselves and each other? Do we value other living things? Do we value beauty, peace, law, justice, order, honesty, decency? Those are essential elements of our social life. 

But the practical basis of these higher moral concepts is to first have a reasonable and sustainable place to dwell, to feed ourselves and to attend to our material needs. Home and food give our life stability. In order to have that, we need to care for the environment around us that supports and sustains us. Then we can also care for each other. However, not all people share that insight or value. 

Consider the current “DOGE” for example. The acronym should stand for Department of Government Extermination rather than Department of Government Efficiency. The members of the Trump Administration who created this entity knew the public would accept “efficiency”, (who wouldn’t?), but not something whose intention is to end government and privatize everything. Clever. And sinister. This highlights the age-old values struggle between those who wish to use the nation’s resources for the public benefit and those who wish to use them for themselves; the billionaires and oligarchs who are now trying to take over the entire country and, in Putin’s case, the world. 

The ethos of this kind of group turns the land around them into a “dust bowl” as was done from about 1930 - 1936 on a vast part of the Great Plains just east of here. Those were times of great poverty and social dislocation in the country for the public. Misuse of land for private profit was an important factor. 

Also, in 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio actually caught on fire at least a dozen times from the industrial pollution dumped into it. Water and air were being polluted all around the country. In all these cases our federal government had to step in with a higher ethos to remedy the situations in the interest of all of us. Private owners who were the cause were unwilling to do it. Their ethos was “short- term profit first and above all”. 

Soon after, the federal government intervened and legislation was passed by congress to establish the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. This necessary federal intervention on behalf of our land and people set up the powerful and enduring ideological battles between the public interest and private enterprise that continue to this day.  

In our nation during the 1800’s multitudes of birds such as egrets were killed for their plumage which then was used to adorn the hats of “fashionable” women. Passenger pigeons, once the most abundant bird in North America, numbered in the billions. These marvelous birds were migratory and their flights would darken the light from the Sun for days. Yet, they were persecuted by humans to the point of extinction by 1914. Gone forever. (The numbers of species exterminated by humans in America is the subject of books such as Peter Matthiessen’s classic: Wildlife in America. It is a great, though gruesome, read.) 

Most importantly, we also remember the plight of the American Buffalo or Bison, the Western Hemisphere’s largest land animal which once numbered in the tens of millions across North America. As people moved west in the 1800’s these iconic creatures, integral to Native American life, were slaughtered almost to extinction - down to only several hundred animals. Often only their tongues and hide were taken and the carcasses were left to rot. (With protection, their numbers have been restored now to about 500,000; some 340,000 are domesticated and about 140,000 live in a natural environment roaming freely and increasing in number.)  

Our first National Park, Yellowstone, was established by President Teddy Roosevelt and congress in March of 1872 and its founding began a worldwide national park movement. Today more than 100 nations contain about 6,500 national parks or preserves for the world. The stone arch seen overhead while entering Yellowstone states: “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” That says it all.  

While each of these entities had precursors, the National Park Service was formally created in August 1916; U.S. Forest Service, February 1905; Fish and Wildlife Service, June 1940; and Bureau of Land Management, December 1946. They are the principal agencies protecting and enhancing use of federal lands. Among their goals is to: “Meet the needs of present and future generations.” The principle function of these agencies is to protect and preserve these unique protected areas for the public and from private exploitation and depredation.  

Yet, the words of Republican ideologue Grover Norquist in 2001 endure. He starkly quipped: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” That’s what is currently going on and that’s why we need federal employees protecting our resources. 

Dr. Lenderts has lived and worked in the valley for over twenty years. He is and has been active in public health, social, political, and environmental issues.