I’m a Conservationist, not a treehugger

Don’t get me wrong. I love trees (and grass, and water, and animals), but I’m not a radical eco-greenie nutjob. You know, the folks who say you shouldn’t have a dog because its ‘carbon footprint’ (pawprint?) is bigger than an SUV’s. Many of those folks are very arrogant in their belief that mankind can “destroy the earth”. The planet was here long before humans and endured periods of “global warming”, and “global ice ages” long before mankind was around. We may destroy the human species, but the planet will cope just fine without us.  Sure, human impact on the environment can be devastating, but to whom exactly?

No, I’m a conservationist. I believe the earth provides humankind with many essential resources, but that we are stewards of the land. It is not our responsibility to “save the earth”. Personally, I’d much rather ‘save the humans’. That implies that it’s our moral and ethical responsibility to leave a planet to future generations that can provide for them as it has for us. To me, that means take what you need from the land, but do so wisely and thoughtfully.

Native American culture held that if you kill an animal, you should make as much use of its parts as you can: eat it, use the hide for clothing and shelter, antlers and sinew for tools. To do otherwise is disrespectful, selfish and short-sighted.

In coming blog posts, I’ll be offering easy real-world ideas for making better use of our resources. I’ll also be discussing some thoughts on what motivates the radical eco-nut.

~ by Patrick Larkin Jr on October 29, 2009.