Life After Politics
After Nelson's 1980 defeat for re-election, he became counselor for The Wilderness Society in January 1981. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in September 1995 in recognition of his environmental work.
Nelson viewed the stabilization of the nation's population as an important aspect of environmentalism. In his words:
The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become…. We have to address the population issue. The United Nations, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say "I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration."
He also rejected the suggestion that economic development should take precedence over environmental protection:
The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.
In 2002 Nelson appeared on To Tell the Truth as a contestant, with his founding of Earth Day highlighted.
Read more about this topic: Gaylord Nelson
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