Harbus

Issue date: 10/18/04 Section: Viewpoints

Before the debate over the election, Iraq, and terrorism, few issues got Americans as worked up as the environment. On the one side are people who are worried about pollution, about the disappearance of wildlife and biodiversity, and humans tinkering with global processes. On the other side are people who consider environmental laws and regulations unnecessary and unfair burden on the economy and on individuals.

Nay-sayers point out that scientists disagree on whether the atmosphere or climate are in trouble. Moreover, nay-sayers doubt the validity of the environmental doomsday scenarios that have proliferated over the last 30 years, arguing that the world hasn't stopped turning yet, so how much truth can there be in all these dire predictions?

Theodore Roosevelt IV (HBS '72), the great-grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, dismisses outright the notion that environmental threats are facetious. Roosevelt IV, a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and an active environmentalist, is former Chairman of the Board of the League of Conservation Voters and former Co-Chair of the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. He was also appointed by Governor Pataki to the New York State Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission for the City of New York and the Hudson River Park Trust.

I spoke recently with Roosevelt IV to discuss his position on the environment debate.

Harbus: Why are you an environmentalist?

Teddy Roosevelt IV: I believe people in their nonprofessional work should get involved in things that are important to them. For me the environment is just something that touches me personally. I have always cared strongly about it. As a little kid, I was always happier running around catching frogs, snakes, and turtles then I was playing baseball. So when I got older, it was a very natural progression for me to become involved in the environment. I guess being an environmentalist is just a part of who I am.

Harbus: Did President T. Roosevelt's passion for the environment have an impact on you?

TR IV: It had some sort of impact in the sense that I had a better platform
then I would have otherwise had. But in terms of actually influencing me, I would say that it didn't very much because it [passion for the environment] was something already in me. However, I don't rule out the possibility that my passion could have been passed down through the family unconsciously in the sense that my family liked the outdoors and it was therefore something that I always spent time in.

Continued...

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