Backstage

Enviro-mental Cases...

So I was trying to relax at my favorite pub Saturday night, when I was invited over to a table where I knew one person... Since I've been working way too many hours, my resistance was low, and I headed over there... Generally most of the people seemed nice enough, but then these two kinda scruffy guys started down the road of bashing Bush... Well, whatever... I hate politics, but the way they were going about it, set me on edge because I just knew where the conversation would go next... The Environment...

I accept that my industry is highly wastefull... We do what we can to recycle if it isn't going to cost us a ton of money... I also live in New Jersey... Home to more Superfund Sites than perhaps anyplace else in the country... But these two started in on forest fires, and the timber industry... At that point, I should have taken my beer and headed over to the foosball table, but damned if I wasn't tired and felt like sitting... So they start in on how the forest service and the fire fighters that handle forest fires, need to clean out all the under brush and dead wood from all the federal and state forests... They feel that that would reduce the likelyhood and intensity of the inevitable fires... So far I can't really disagree that it would reduce fires... My qualm comes from a couple things... a) who the hell do these idiots think they are deciding that the fire fighters should be clearing brush?... They are fire fighters, not brush hogs... b) they have decided that to do this, there can be no use of heavy equipment as it might damage the forest, or disturb nature... Um, is it just me or is that asking a bit much to walk all those square miles of forest and hump brush around by hand?... Personally I have spent many, many days in the forest at my parents farm, cutting and hauling trees for firewood, and some hardwood lumber for furniture we make... I can assure you, that clearing undergroth without equipment is simply insane...  As for disturbing nature, wouldn't you be doing that anyhow by removing all the undercover anyhow? c) They have decided that selective cutting by any timber company is not only without merit, but evil... Now, I'm not crazy about letting timber companies do what they want in federal forests, but they are without a doubt the only group of people with the ability to clear the shear number of miles involved...

So I asked them, very politely at that, if they had ever spent much time working in a forest... The response I received apart from the icy stares was that they were serious campers... It was at this point that I laughed at them, told them they needed to try working for a living, and then headed over to the bar for a refill, not to return to the table...

I suspect I've made a couple more enemies... Screw 'em... They would go crunch under the tracks of a logging crawler just like that dreaded underbrush...