Water and the conservation movement
Every age has its unique touchstone, its hallmark. The Nineties were thought gay. The Twenties had jazz and John Held, Jr. The Thirties had breadlines, dust bowls, the forgotten man. And each recent period has been studded with so many flashy gems, both paste and genuine, that no hallmark would alone be enough to label it.
Of the present age, one of the nameplates will carry the word "Conservation." The first time a museum visitor walks by that label he will probably stop, push back the plexiglas globe of his space helmet and say to himself, "I never thought that conservation was a keynote of the Fifties." But I imagine he might agree as the pathetic truth of that label dawned on his tired body, accustomed to canned entertainment, synthetic flavors, and fighting the afternoon traffic of the jet lanes. I can imagine him musing: "Conservation, the hallmark of the Fifties. Somebody about that time said about something or other, 'too little and too late.'"
Citation Information
Publication Year | 1958 |
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Title | Water and the conservation movement |
DOI | 10.3133/cir402 |
Authors | Luna Bergere Leopold |
Publication Type | Report |
Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
Series Title | Circular |
Series Number | 402 |
Index ID | cir402 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |