|
Saturday, October 15, 2005 Remarks for Friends of Conservation This is surely a family affair, many kinfolk and friends. It is impossible not to start out on a very personal note. Besides being honored, I have the pleasant oppurtunity to say something about a person who is very special to me. I envy my son, Adam for having the wisdom and good fortune to be wed to a super lady, Michelle and tonight is her birthday. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Michelle! Well, I am very touched to be so honored tonight by those who have labored so long and hard for Friends of Conservation. Jorie and Reute continue to do a wonderful job in this critical field aided by their terrific Board (of which I am a member) and their various Committees. Also, let us give many thanks to Jim Fowler and his amazing animals. And Norma who, with her accolytes, has made these events, and many others, really happen. And you, the supporters of FOC, who have for decades come to the plate, contributing to the cause. I thank you all. We are all family, an extended family of like-minded people gathered together in a common cause, Friends of Conservation. Our efforts and those of many others in similar causes are under grave threats. Not so much from natural sources as from unnatural forces created by political acts, influenced by greed to the determent of the commonweal. We are facing attacks on the evironment beyond anything known in our lifetimes (or in the recorded history of our planet). In many areas of conservation we are seeing actions by our government, for which our children, our grandchildren and ourselves will suffer. A few examples: Climate changes are threatening the Artic Ice Shelf and the Antartic; glaciers and ice fields are already breaking loose into shipping channels and raising water levels. On land, forests in Alaska are sinking below the melting permafrost of the earth. Our National Environmental Policy, a Nixon era creation, with worldwide renown, is to be 'modernized' and 'streamilned'. This is really nomenclature for 'gutting' an act, which influences even more thanthe Forest Service and the Army Engineers. The just defrocked House Majority leader said, "The EPA is a latter-day Gestapo". Perhaps he was concerned about the prohibition of pesticides. The oil industry has been given a green light that enables the lifting of safeguards, which will allow the building of more refineries, so they will not have to pay, to further pollute the world. Even the FBI is using the Patriot Act to attack 'Greens', and Animal Rights Activists, by treating them not as 'whacos' or extremists but as terrorists. Most threatening to the immediate interest of all of us in this gathering, is the Endangered Species Act. Since Roman times and English Common Law wildlife belongs to the people. I am neither a Creationist nor a believer in Intelligent Design (which are one and the same to certain people). However I do believe we have evolved from Simians. Who are being proven to have greater planetary intelligence than some of our own species. They, our simian friends, are also members of our extended family. As are all of the species of our world-even those who would extinct themselves-and us, as we are part of theirs. When we leave here this evening, it is important that we do everything we can to continue our efforts to protect our world and the resources that support and enrich us...even those who would do otherwise, when given the oppurtunity. As Calvin once said to Hobbes, "We have met the enemy and he is us". But we must protect all that is natural to our world, and we must renew that effort in the face of what lies ahead of us. Thank you for this oppurtunity to address you, for this honor, and all you do to conserve and protect our world. Do everything you can to continue your efforts to protect our world. Carpe Diem |
ARTICLES
OF NOTE
All In The Name You Give It We All Have The Same Problems Questions About HAIR Fury, Rage, Sadness, Embarrassed, Ashamed Answers for Simon "But I Can't Make A Difference" "God said it. I believe it. That settles it" Iran and US - At The Abyss Life's Too Short ARCHIVES December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005
|
