Quote:
Originally Posted by MovingForward
If people in Montana really care about their land, they should take a look at what the mining companies and cattle ranches have done--and are doing-- to it. There's a very interesting chapter in Jared Diamond's "Collapse" devoted entirely to the destruction of Montana. You would find it very interesting, I'm sure.
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This is a terribly simplistic view of Montanans, mining and ranching that shows little understanding of the natural environment.
People in Montana DO care about the land. We do look at the impacts of mining, ranching and logging.
Mining has left behind many messes in Montana that the mining companies now refuse to acknowledge as their responsibility. Mining companies, for the most part, promised in the past to clean up after themselves but instead, left huge scars behind and now refuse to clean up; many of those that previously didn't mind mining have become jaded and distrustful of mining companies. I think we've learned our lesson from it. We most recently voted against legislation that would allow cyanide heap-leach gold mining.
Cattle ranching is not always destructive and there are many responsible land stewards among ranchers. In fact the Nature Conservancy has some conservation easements on ranch lands that they still allow cattle to graze on--certainly an organization dedicated to conservation wouldn't allow destruction on their lands
I have read Diamond too. Diamond presents some interesting and valid points. His Montana focus is on the Bitterroot; he owns a vacation home there. He also tends focus on environmental destruction as a cause of societal collaspe. First of all, I don't agree with the factors he states led to environmental destruction in Montana and interestingly enough, he minimizes his contribution to the Bitterroot's destruction.
Ranching and logging were traditional industries in the Bitterroot. Investigate the history, both cultural and environmental, of the Bitterroot and you will see that the destruction there has not occurred from environmental damage from long time ranchers but instead from the increasing environmental pressure and damage from the influx of people like Diamond, who just MUST have their vacation home there, and it always MUST be smack dab in wildlife habitat. I wouldn't exactly call him or those similar environmental responsible.
Now consider the total environmental impacts of those huge and not so huge vacation homes and subdivisions . First off, how about all the resources the McMansions take to build and the footprint they leave on the environment and for what--to be used a few times a year by a few people. Tell me how that is responsible for the environment. Most of these same people who claim to be so ENVIRONMENTAL are a JOKE. I look at them and laugh at their hypocrisy, especially since many ranchers I know are actually responsible land stewards being called bad guys by these PSEUDO-ENVIRONMENTALIST McMansion owners and others that move here with no understanding and respect for environment.
Logging also gets a bad reputation, sometimes undeservedly. Diamond makes it sound like we've destroyed our logging industry through overcutting. Logging didn't stop in Montana thorough environmental destruction, logging was effectively halted because much of the timber is found on Forest Service land and virtually every FS timber sale ends up in appeal. Again, I may not agree with every timber sale but to stranglehold a whole industry because you don't want ANY trees cut is ridiculous. There are situations where cutting timber would help the overall environment, not harm it. No one wants to see destructive forest fires and in the past, yes the forest cleaned itself through fire. But this is not the past, humans have encroached upon the forests and built houses right where these cleansing fires should take place (especially those pseudo-environmentalists). Yet no one wants to lose their home to a fire. It is a catch 22--they want to live in the woods, yet they don't want logging, even to clean up the beetle-killed dead and dry standing timber and when a fire starts in their neighborhood, they want you to try to protect their home when it is all but impossible at times to do much of anything once a fire starts rolling.
This lack of true environmental understanding and accompanying pseudo-environmentalism are things that I find so distasteful in many of those coming here to Montana. Subdivisions, McMansions, etc. have cause much more environmental damage than logging or ranching ever have. Diamond, despite having a vacation home here, looks at it from an outsider point of view. His opinion is that Montana is kept alive by outside money and if Montana were an isolated country, it would collapse. I agree that currently, Montana is being bought and sold by outside interests, leaving us in economic disaster. However, if Montana were its own country, with the lessons we've learned, we would kick out the huge companies that have left environmental problems for us to clean up, and do it ourselves--more responsibly since it is our home. Plus we could put a moratorium on the number of people moving here and eliminate that environmental disaster.
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08-12-2007, 03:45 PM
WOW! i just read this ....
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