[at-l] stoves and nature and anthropogenic humility! :)

[icw@xxxxxxxxxxx (Clark Wright)]

Well, for what it is worth, I am one of those who believes reminding
ourselves of that very phrase is VERY important - not to justify doing
nothing, or pooh-poohing sincere concerns regarding environmental
issues, but rather to inject a needed dose of humility regarding some of
the inherent assumptions being made by lots of folks . . . the global
warming "debate" is a right good litmus test . . . I have real concerns,
but also know that Planet Earth warms and cools over cycles that span
10,000+ years with or without anthropogenic inputs, and thus we face a
daunting task re figuring out what we do or do not contribute to such
powerful, long term forces . . . and then there is the doubly daunting
task of trying to figure out what to do about whatever it is that we
reach consensus on in terms of anthropogenic cause/effect.  And then
there is the whole issue of why is it that we humans seem to naturally
[pardon the ironic pun] want to exclude ourselves and our activities
[including polluting activities] from our definition of "natural?"  It
seems to me that since humans evolved here on Earth too, anything we do
is as natural as anything the next animal or other species does.  Again,
accepting the point that humans and all they do are as much a part of
nature as anything else does NOT mean we should take no action to stop
those activities that we collectively, rationally and fairly determine
to be "harmful to the environment," but it DOES help end the
subconscious [and conscious] guilt trips we put each other through, and
changes a good bit one's perspective on how to manage systems ranging
from urban parks to national parks . . .

anyhow, all this is way too deep and full of bandwidth consequences for
us to go much further with, but there is a lot to think of in all these
posts, and a lot to apply in terms of how to best protect things we love
about the AT and those areas owned by private landholders that we would
like to see remain in an "undeveloped" state.  [I can deal with the
label "undeveloped' as opposed to "natural"! :)]

thru-thinker

Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote:

> LOL!
> I used to work with a guy whose total philosophy was that "In 50,000 years
> it won't make any difference".  Betcha can guess just how useful he was
> <VBG>
>
> I'm not sure about me either.  But then, I always was "different".  Never
> did find a box that I'd fit into.
>
> Walk softly,
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: "Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net>
>> Reply-To: "Bob C." <ellen@clinic.net>
>> To: Ronald Moak <rmoak@fallingwater.com>
>> CC: Jim and/or Ginny Owen <spiriteagle99@hotmail.com>,
>> at-l@backcountry.net
>> Subject: Re[2]: [at-l] another stove question
>> Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 19:42:54 -0500
>>
>> >"...Face it, this planet is reaching middle age and will be deader
>> than a
>> >doornail in a few billion years and there ain't nothing you, I or anyone
>> can do
>> >about it" reports Fallingwater.
>>
>> Not only that, but most, maybe all the people on this list, (I'm still
>> not
>> sure
>> about Jim) eventually will die. But we all still live our lives, help our
>> neighbors, fight for those things we believe in. Ah humans. All this
>> fluttering
>> about when in a few million years from now, none of it will have
>> mattered.
>> How
>> silly of us.
>>
>>  Weary
>
>
>
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