I found Jack Rabideau’s article both fascinating and frightening, especially the opening line “…….there is no environmental crisis”. Judging from his vast knowledge of earth matters as is evident from his impressive quotes and figures he must be a very well read man and I presume that his figures are also well researched. But it does not matter if his is right or wrong. There is something irresponsible in the message he sends out. It is the way in which his point comes across that worries me and which I would like to address. And I do so with due respect.

 

Nowhere in Jon Frangipani’s, “Saving of our Planet”, to which Mr. Rabideau is replying is ”Global warming” mentioned. I think his article was a reasonable concern expressed to foster awareness. Yet Mr. Rabideau’s reply centers almost entirely on “Global Warming”. Although he did mention a few logical points with which I agree.

 

In his book, Studies Show, John Fennick, a statistician has this to say about the way we mince figures to justify a subjective point of view:” Research reports are written by and for knowledgeable peers.”………Results are technical, hard to understand and are read by the experts; conclusions are subjective, easily misleading and read by laymen.”  So forgive me for staying with the Angels in stead of rushing in to something that I have no authority to quote figures to counter that of the Mr. Rabideau.

 

To make my point, allow me to first debate in favor of Mr. Rabideau point of view. He is correct about the earth’s ability to rejuvenate and rehabilitate itself. Does it really matter whether the Human race is facing being fried by Global warming or getting frostbite from an imminent Ice age? Many times in its history of four and a half billion years there have been near total extinctions of all forms of life. The Geologists tell us that the strata is full of fossilized evidence that evolution and force-majeure, or intelligent design (whatever side of the fence you stand) was single handedly responsible for the extinction of more species than we as Humans with all our pollution and raping of the environment can ever hope to achieve.

 

 We float on a core of molten lava and are protected from the “nothing” in hostile space by only 12 miles of meaningful atmosphere. (62 miles up is considered the outer edge or so called Karman line) Put that 12 miles down horizontally and it take you from LHP to Fort Lauderdale; short isn’t it? So it may be true that the earth is responsible for its own dilemma, not us Humans. There is not much we can do? But does that give us the right to indiscriminately join the free for all destruction of the latest version of Earth that we have inherited? I don’t think so.

 

Apart from the above, there is this asteroid out there in space on a collision course with planet Earth. And when, not if it strikes, it is bye bye birdie! So what the hell, let us ride our SUV’s, pump poison into the atmosphere, cut down the Rain Forest, pollute the rivers and oceans, strive to more disharmony amongst Nations, ext. In short, let’s screw up the only place we have to live on for whatever we try to conserve is negated by Nature anyway.

 

I could not quite grasp what Mr. Rabideau was getting at, until I read his story again for the fourth or so time and picked up on the words with reference to Gary Carter and the Vanity fair Magazine: “..both represents the far left on all issues that concern us today”. If someone refers to the far left, I must assume that he is taking pot shots at them from the p.o.v. of the far right, not so? Which is the better of the two extremes? I really don’t know and frankly don’t care. It may be the essence of checks and balances in our system, but whatever it is, it is causing havoc and discontent and is getting us nowhere in a hurry. All I know is that his whole article on environmental issues is nothing more than a politicized opinion to discredit “environmentalist”. Which is sad, because it distorts and distracts from very important issues that needs to be continually attended to.

 

It is true that in the greater scheme of things, nothing is really that important, for life will dance upon your grave. This is an existential way of thinking which can lead to a “can’t-care-a-damn” attitude, which in turn will inevitably lead to the disregard for putting on the brakes. And mark my words, if we don’t apply the brakes we will end up with a hand made, self cultivated destiny which will rival that of Nature. And we will be doomed to perish long before that asteroid strikes. So thank God for the “environmentalists”. They may have prevented the building of more refineries, but they also prevented that this incredible landscape of the United States with all it’s wildlife have been turned into a wasteland by greedy, short sighted men and women. It is a thin red line between survival and protection of the environment and sadly middle ground is seldom begotten in the struggle between the two forces.

 

No matter from which angle you view the Earth in crisis or the Earth not in crisis. I can not find anything wrong with having compassion and acting responsibly when it comes to the environment. If there is no environmental crisis as Mr. Rabideau suggest then I suppose the Florida Panther, the Golden Condor and a few other animals on the endangered specie list got there out of choice. The Mississippi polluted itself by willfully accepting our poisonous factory waste. We have phase 3 water restrictions because the aquifers cannot cope with the indiscriminate demand ….. Shall I continue to rattle off more examples other that the hundreds of known ones?

 

Politics tend to bedevil Mans efforts to do what they should do. It divides Man in  stead of unifying them and our political Champions that can make the difference are far in the minority. It is evident from Mr. Rabideau story, he is so pissed with the “lefties” that he looses sight of the big picture. He make it sounds that the “far left” is up to no good and responsible for spreading a lie and everything else sinister. On the other side of the coin the far right says “…….there is no environmental crisis” and does nothing? But I would like to remind him that now-a-days it is OK to hug a tree or a bunny. Thinking and doing GREEN is mainstream and our children are leading the pack for their own future, because we don’t. It is also OK to have your SUV, your AC and other energy luxuries but have them and use them responsibly and become aware of environmental issues and how you can contribute in your “small way” as Jon Frangipani pleaded for. 

 

This makes me think of the caricature of two donkeys, (A Donkey and an Elephant would be more appropriate in this connotation.) They are tied together by a rope around their necks that is too short to allow them to each eat from their perspective barrel of fodder at the same time. So no donkey eats, with the rope taught between them. Until they get wise and both eat simultaneous, first at the one barrel and when that is finish eat the other barrel. Imagine the power of cooperation if we can all copy the Donkeys. But then I must admit I suffer from acute idealism. The glass is always half full.

 

 In closing, the concept “Global Warming” is confused with the “Environmental Crisis”. The first is a controversial subject which has become a political football while the latter is a reality. If Clint Eastwood or Steven Spielberg produced the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” there would not have been an issue. Even the talking head, Glenn Beck got into the ball game with his ridiculous “meat foot-print” story about Al Gore. Sighting that the flatulent cows of America have blown a hole in the ozone layer.  I don’t believe there is malice intent in Mr. Rabideau story but I do object to what comes across as an indifference to the way we should care for our  environment…….. at least until the asteroid strikes!

—Jan Davey

Wildlife Steward