February 21, 2007
Nature Conservancy
Re: "Divisive Issue" (Winter 2006 Issue, p.6)
To the Editor:
Times change. We learn new things, and old ideas become obsolete. It's
inevitable. For example, we can no longer safely assume that water
from mountain streams is safe to drink. As Mark Gross stated so
eloquently, exploiting wildlife and wildlife habitat, for pleasuring
humans, is fast becoming obsolete (although dropping support for
Nature Conservancy seems counter-productive to me). The
rationalizations for such exploitation are transparently just that.
Aldo Leopold is a good example of discarding obsolete notions (the
killing of wolves) when they become clearly untenable.
This not to say that denigration of the "exploiters" is okay. I can't
really criticize 19th century Americans for not anticipating modern
conservation biology. And I don't think that difference of opinion
necessarily means we can't get along and work together. There will
probably always be compromises "on the ground".
But I don't see any reason to compromise on telling the truth! Yes, we
are animals somewhat like other animals, but we are not a natural part
of any ecosystem. We are a species that is native to part of Africa,
and everywhere else a very late newcomer, i.e. an exotic species. Like
all exotic species, we have arguably no right to access, much less
exploit, local ecosystems, especially when those activities threaten
native species (except that, when it's convenient, we claim that
"might makes right"😉.
There is no honest way in today's environment to rationalize hunting,
fishing, and "collecting" of native species, or non-sustainable
recreational activities like mountain biking.
Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D.
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande
References:
Ehrlich, Paul R. and Ehrlich, Anne H., Extinction: The Causes and
Consequences of the Disappearances of Species. New York: Random House,
1981.
Errington, Paul L., A Question of Values. Ames, Iowa: Iowa State
University Press, 1987.
Flannery, Tim, The Eternal Frontier -- An Ecological History of North
America and Its Peoples. New York: Grove Press, 2001.
Foreman, Dave, Confessions of an Eco-Warrior. New York: Harmony Books,
1991.
Knight, Richard L. and Kevin J. Gutzwiller, eds. Wildlife and
Recreationists. Covelo, California: Island Press, 1995.
Louv, Richard, Last Child in the Woods -- Saving Our Children from
Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel
Hill, 2005.
Noss, Reed F. and Allen Y. Cooperrider, Saving Nature's Legacy:
Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Covelo,
California, 1994.
Stone, Christopher D., Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights
for Natural Objects. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc.,
1973.
Vandeman, Michael J., http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande, especially
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/india3,
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/sc8,
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb4, and
http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande/scb7.
Ward, Peter Douglas, The End of Evolution: On Mass Extinctions and the
Preservation of Biodiversity. New York: Bantam Books, 1994.
"The Wildlands Project", Wild Earth. Richmond, Vermont: The Cenozoic
Society, 1994.
Wilson, Edward O., The Future of Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
2002.
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"😉. Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)
Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!