Jimmy Carter: The first ‘green’ president
U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaking in front of Solar Panels placed on West Wing Roof of White House, announcing his solar energy policy, Washington, DC, USA, Warren K. Leffler, June 20, 1979. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Gr
Former President Jimmy Carter will be widely remembered as a champion of conservation, but perhaps fewer know just how much he did to preserve his home state of Georgia and beyond.
"Americans long thought that nature could take care of itself — or that if it did not, the consequences were someone else's problem," Carter wrote in a message to Congress in 1977. "As we know now, that assumption was wrong."
Carter, the 39th U.S. president and the first to install solar panels on the White House roof, died Sunday at the age of 100.
The Carter Center confirmed his death, saying he died peacefully at his home in Plains, surrounded by his family. He was the longest-lived president in U.S. history and had been in hospice care just short of two years.
The former president's wife, Rosalynn, died November 2023 at her home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 96.
RELATED: Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter dies at 96
Although he only served one term as president, Carter's legacy as a trailblazer for the environment will live on through the countless national forests, national parks and scenic rivers he worked so hard to protect.
Jimmy Carter’s biggest environmental accomplishments
Here’s a look at some of Carter’s most significant environmental achievements as president, according to the National Park Service:
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SCMRA) of 1977: Prohibited strip mining within the boundaries of any National Park Service land and gave the park service a say in strip mining permits near national parks.
The Global 2000 Report, 1977: The Global 2000 report was the first major report of its kind to sound the alarm on global warming and significant threats to the environment.
Public Law 95-344, 1978: This law created the Chattahoochee River National Recreational Area in Georgia.
Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), 1978: The national law was enacted to encourage energy conservation and to educate people on the use of renewable and domestic energy sources.
The Endangered Wilderness Act, 1978: Established 10 new wilderness areas with national forests in the Western U.S., including Golden Trout Wilderness, Ventana Wilderness and Manzano Mountain Wilderness.
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), 1980: This act converted more than 100 million acres in Alaska to federally protected lands. It also created 13 national parks, 16 wildlife refuges, two national forests, two national monuments, two conservation areas and 26 wild and scenic rivers. Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Katmai National Park & Preserve and Kenai Fjords National Park are among the national parks established by this act.
Brown Bear, Ursos arctos, running up coastal creek in pursuit of salmon Katmai, Alaska, USA. (Photo by: David Tipling/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 1980: Created a federal "superfund" to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites, along with accidents, spills and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment. It also gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to find parties responsible for hazardous sites and make sure they help with cleanup.
Jimmy Carter’s environmental legacy in Georgia
Carter’s love of nature went way beyond what he accomplished in Washington, D.C.
In 1967, Carter, then a former Georgia state senator, was one of the founding supporters of the Georgia Conservancy, which has helped protect numerous parks and swamps.
In this handout image provided by the Elders, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and their fellow Elders Martti Ahtisaari, Ela Bhatt and Gro Brundtland sit with their grandchildren during a picnic event on October 31, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey. Jimmy Carter,
"I honestly believe that our greatest potential force for meeting challenges to our environment is in the several thousand highly-motivated and well-educated Georgians who are members of the Georgia Conservancy," Carter said at the 1968 Georgia Conservancy Conference. "As one of the few Charter members, I know that we must speak with a strong, continuing, well-informed and courageous voice, which can be heard clearly by the public official, businessman, and average citizen."
In 1973, then-Gov. Carter vetoed the construction of a dam on the Flint River at Sprewell Bluff. To this day, the Flint River has an "unimpeded" flow for more than 200 miles, one of only 40 rivers in the U.S. with this status.
In 1975, Gov. Carter created the Georgia Heritage Land Trust to buy and preserve unique lands.
The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, established in 2013 in the Carters’ hometown of Plains, Georgia, has helped to restore natural areas that endangered pollinators need to survive.
In 2017, decades after his presidency ended, Jimmy Carter built a solar farm with more than 3,800 panels. They power about half the town of Plains.
"If we ignore the care of our environment, the day will eventually come when our economy suffers for that neglect," Carter told Congress in 1977.
The Source: Information in this article was taken from The National Park Service, the Georgia Conservancy and The Associated Press.