247. America’s Best Idea: How the U.S. Invented the National Park

Today, no guest - just Matt, with the story of what one writer called “the best idea America ever had”: the national park. In 1872, in a country built on private property, the United States set aside Yellowstone as land that could never be owned by anyone - and then handed the idea to the world. Matt traces how it happened: the writer John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt, whose 1903 campfire in Yosemite helped put 230 million acres under protection; the birth of the National Park Service in 1916; and the system today - 433 sites, 85 million acres, owned in equal measure by every American. Then he turns to the present: the 2025 push to sell off public land, the bipartisan coalition that stopped it, the budget fight that quietly removed the guardrail keeping parks federal, and the global “30x30” movement to protect 30% of the planet’s land and water by 2030. The throughline: these places have never protected themselves. This episode is part of our “250 for 250” series - solo episodes marking America’s 250th anniversary by revisiting the moments in our environmental history when ordinary people changed everything. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. ABOUT THE “250 FOR 250” SERIES In 2026, America turns 250 - and A Climate Change reaches its 250th episode. To mark both, host Matt Matern is recording a run of solo episodes that revisit the moments in American environmental history when ordinary people changed everything: the fights, the movements, and the laws that built modern environmental protection. The throughline is simple - caring for the air, water, and land isn’t separate from the American story. It is the American story. EPISODE RESOURCES Key references for this episode: Yellowstone - park history & the 1872 Act (NPS): nps.gov/yell/learn/historyculture/park-history.htm The National Park System - 433 sites / 85M+ acres (NPS): nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm Theodore Roosevelt and Conservation (NPS): nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-and-conservation.htm The Antiquities Act of 1906 (NPS): nps.gov/subjects/archeology/antiquities-act.htm The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (PBS / Ken Burns): pbs.org/kenburns/the-national-parks National Parks Conservation Association: npca.org 30x30 / California’s conservation goal: californianature.ca.gov A note on John Muir: Muir’s legacy is complicated. Alongside his conservation work, he made racist remarks about Black and Indigenous people - something the Sierra Club, which he founded, publicly acknowledged and began reckoning with in 2020 (sierraclub.org). Show links: Matt Matern on LinkedIn: bit.ly/ACClinkedin A Climate Change on Apple: bit.ly/accapplepodcast A Climate Change on Spotify: bit.ly/accspotifypodcast A Climate Change on YouTube: bit.ly/ACCvids