‘He was prescient’: Jimmy Carter, the environment and the road not taken

President Jimmy Carter speaks against a backdrop of solar panels at the White House on 21 June 1979 in Washington. Photograph: Harvey Georges/AP

When a group of dignitaries and journalists made a rare foray to the roof of the White House, Jimmy Carter had something to show them: 32 solar water-heating panels.

“A generation from now,” the US president declared, “this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.”