Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 09:25:52 -0500 From: 8357737 <DMERRITT@pbserver.paulbunyan.net> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1216$foo@default> Subject: wild collecting
Hi, Thought I would throw my two cents worth in too. I agree that
wild collecting is to be discouraged. The problem is that it is a
moral issue. And never in the history of man has a government
successfully legislated morals except in a small theocracy type of
government, and they don't seem to work on a large scale. These
issues are now global. The old saying one bad apple can spoil the
whole barrel is morally true. Proper legislation is most probably
the only answer, but it can never address individual areas. Where I
live is a large logging industry. The local flora means much to me.
They mean very little to the local loggers. Their pay check means
more to them and less to me. A lot of our swamp country cannot be
logged except in the winter when everything is frozen and the heavy
equipment can be driven over any terrain (including of course the
bogs and wet lands) If I know that a tract of land is to be logged
come winter and I am out hiking around there and happen across a
plant I want, if it is not legally forbidden, I will wild collect
it, or its seed. The law cannot differentiate, and if it is legally
protected, then it is lost with the logging, and so is its habitat.
Unfortunately many people do not tend to be morally responsible for
the environment they live in. Therefore laws are the only answer.
Moral education is vital. Laws may always be the only global
answer, but they are not the best answer. The answer lies with
responsible people. My two cents worth. Bye, Anita
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