Phil,
I live the desert and my private property doesn't have a
single cactus, palo verde, desert grass or other native plant.
Same goes for the native wildlife. Scorpions, rattle snakes,
rabbits, etc. have been systematically eradicated. All to make
room for human beings and their pet plants and pet animals. The
paper company is no different. They did only on a larger scale
what most people do on a smaller scale, and that is to convert
nature for human use.
reply-
-yes it's all too true but this problem isn't static it's getting
worse and worse. This *is* a problem and the general population
is very good at ignoring it.
you write-
One of the answers, is to be the owner of these types of habitat through
whatever green group you like. Make donations of money, time, materials,
(land?).. Nothing bothers me more than to hear people bellyache
and complain (about any subject) when they aren't willing to do
a single thing to swing matters back to their own side.
reply- and when you do all can and it adds up to just about zero?
I do help where I can but it's all up hill and there is alway
someone sawing away on the rope.
you write- Just as elephants can destroy the range they feed on before
moving on, people sometimes do the same thing. Perhaps both are natural
pieces in the puzzle of nature. And nature is nowhere near a delicate
as some might think. Mount St. Helen is a good example of a landscape
steralized by nature herself. And life is streaming back into that eco
system!
reply- Elephants are part of a system to which all/most species
have adapted to one another over millions of years. They don't
destroy a range: the other species come back. Ditto for volcanos.
this is something that *does not* happen when a human population
is done with land because humans are never done with that land.
There will not be anything returning to that land. And if people
did give up on an area it would probably be unsuitable for rehabi-
tation by what was living there before.
you write-
If dinosaurs had gone extinct while people inhabited the earth, we would all
be blaming the humans for causing it. All I'm saying is that nature is
dynamic and not static. Species are always comming and going, it's the way
it's supposed to be. I just hope I'm gone before the CP's are.
John Walker,
jorwa@ix.netcom.com
reply-
Yes nature is dynamic. Things come and go. The dinosaurs died and
so did many, many other species. Massive extinction have occured
in the past but for some reason the one the dinos were part of seem
to be the only one we ever hear about. Anyway, humans are not part
of the food chain any longer. We are not in any danger of dying
out. The things we are doing to Earth are shameful and if we were
around in the time of the dinosaurs, I'm sure we would be the reason
they died! What is now happenning on Earth is not natural and we
are living through a mass-extinction right here and now. Just as
many species are blinking out as when the dinos died, if not more.
Things are dying left and right so from what I read in your letter, new
species ought be to be popping up left and right. The only problem
is they're not.
Dave Evans
P.S. I'm ripping on this letter because it doesn't add up. Sorry
for being harsh but it is a just reflection of the time we live in.