20 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



There is a fourth general theme concerned with ways and means 

 of doing the job. This includes citizen action, government action, 

 and education. 



I personally feel that in the long run education may be one of 

 the most important of all. If succeeding generations of Americans 

 are to know the meaning and beauty of nature, most of them, un- 

 happily, must be taught in classrooms. They must have as much 

 opportunity as possible to live and to experience beauty in their 

 formal education. 



There are no panels on such elements of beauty as national parks 

 and forests or wilderness. They are so obviously important that the 

 point need not be belabored. They should have our continuing sup- 

 port, but we believe that this conference should concentrate on new 

 ideas that have not received as much attention as they should. 



We have also not specifically included water and air pollution con- 

 trol. Perhaps no problems are more important to the quality of 

 environment and to our general health and well-being, but there are 

 established research and action programs in this field. They need 

 to be improved but we can affirm our strong support for pollution 

 control and move on. 



In choosing panelists, we chose the individual, not the office. 

 We sought a cross section of varying points of view. There are 

 people from business and labor and the farms. There are interested 

 citizens and government officials and conservationists. We are par- 

 ticularly pleased that some of the most distinguished members of the 

 Congress have agreed to work with us on the panels. We are also 

 grateful that several outstanding foreign authorities have come to 

 work with us. 



It might also be noted that those in the audience who are not on 

 the panels are well qualified to serve. Indeed, most if not all of you 

 were nominated to be on them. We want the benefit of your counsel. 

 Half of each panel session will be devoted to your questions and 

 recommendations. 



Tomorrow afternoon we have the unique opportunity to give 

 the President some new and important ideas. We can meet this 

 challenge only by being bold and imaginative in concept and prac- 

 tical and sound in application. 



I am sure that we agree that the following conclusions are basic 

 to every panel : 



