[at-l] A simple test........

[kahley7 <kahley7@ptd.net>]

At 10:15 AM 8/26/99 -0400, you wrote:

>I wonder if any of us feels a guilt-o-meter reading for those acts that are
>imperceptible as we experience the flow of time during the stages of our
>lives, but add up to environmental and social devastation in a few
>generations.

A marvelous question......one that I have asked of many people in many
ways.  I have finally arrived at what I deem to be the perfect manor to
assess someone's willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the environment.
Do you use a gas or electric clothes dryer?  A simple test.....

>If we truly care about our children, shouldn't we take the
>blinders off and evaluate these issues from the broadest possible perspective
>instead of from personal greed?  If you happen to be religious and are
>comfortable with the concept of afterlife and eternity,  why can't you look
>at current events on earth from a longer time perspective also?

I didn't say I was unsympathetic or unknowing.  I said I was not responsible
or guilty for their treatment.  Rather than dither, I recycle.  I  compost
I minimize consumption where I can
Do you buy new clothes?  A simple test......


>The earth is billions of years old.  It will be here for billions more.  Is
>it too much to ask that we look at these issues from the perspective of a few
>fleeting centuries?

Ok...in the last few fleeting centuries, my beloved PA woods were logged off
so systematically that the few remaining old growth sectors are designated 
for protection.
Now you can walk in the shadow of the trees from my home to NY....almost
totally on public lands.
There were virtually no deer in Pa at the turn of the century.  Now they exist
in numbers unprecedented.  The last hundred years have been good for
Wildness of Pa.  Much of PA is protected and husbanded.  Even the
eagles think so.

Can you say the same about the protection of our private freedoms and liberties
over the last few centuries?  Are you free?  Careful how you answer that...

>If we don't use our abilities and wisdom, man's
>footprint on this planet will be short-lived in the overall scheme of things.

There is no 'will be' about it. .....given the age of the earth.  We are a 
blink.

>Mother nature is infinitely more powerful than us and will repair our
>atrocities on the planet.  What is unconscionable is that we take other
>species to extinction as we play reckless with the resources we were meant to
>husband.

Agreed.....do you eat wild grown fish???  A simple test.....


>Let me cast my wild and foolish vote that the whole planet be named a
>viewshed and all further development cease!  I'll not let my dreams be
>shackled by practical considerations.  I'd rather hike to a different drummer.

Fine....explain this to the Chinese as they steal the panda's forests.
Or to the Africans who do likewise with the elephants and kill the
rhinos to sell to the Chinese.  Or to the Russians as they kill inland seas
by sinking their nuclear subs.  Noticed anything here?  It seems that in
lands that have few freedoms, the people are not free to consider and
protect their environment.

I'm not trying to pick on you friend Bear.  Your writing was elegant and
eloquent.  But to say "Just stop it all" "Make the world a viewshed" is very
impractical and foolish.  It will be the private sector, working under
whatever freedoms we can protect, that will solve the problems that
will minimize our footprints.   And speaking of minimizing impact......
Do you use lekiis.......A simple test......       k.


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