Secretaries of the interior have a sacred obligation to steward America's public lands, tribal commitments, wildlife heritage and natural resources to ensure that they endure for future generations - responsibilities more important than ever in the face of cascading climate impacts.
Most of the articles about Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's resignation have focused on investigations and alleged improprieties, rather than his failure to fulfill these essential duties. But Zinke's most lasting legacy will be the millions of acres of public lands degraded, the climate pollution increased, the outdoor recreational opportunities forsaken, the national monuments decimated and the wildlife species imperiled by an all-consuming energy-dominance agenda that irreparably violated President Theodore Roosevelt's "great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.