“Up to our time, strict economy in the use of natural resources has not been practiced, but it must be henceforth unless we are immoral enough to impair conditions in which our children are to live,” Daniel Burnham, 1893- as quoted in the Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

Burman directed the design and construction of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World’s fair).

When I google ”history of environmental activism” or “origins of the environmental movement”,  PBS gives me information about legislation enacted after WWII and the University of Michigan shares information about 1960s parks legislation and our first Earth Day (1970)

But Burnham recognized the value of conserving resources for future generations much earlier – and maybe, just maybe, if we’d paid attention then, we wouldn’t be here now.