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Show THE ZEPHYR JULY 1991 PAGE 14 No Altruism Altruism makes no sense as a concept. We all do as we prefer. We ad act In selfish and ways. But there la a vast difference In what constitutes the of different Individuals. Mother Theresa Is doing what she wants to do, Just as much as are the rest of us. The "greenies" are pursuing their self-- Interest Just as much We lack as are the "greedies." But there Is a huge difference between these differences. the specific vocabulary to categorize these But the differences are there. The difference between the "greedies'" attempts to cash In the last stands of "old growth" forest In the Pacific Northwest versus the "greenies" attempts the save them. Money In the pocket versus trying to save something we barely even understand. Not only enjoying the "old growth" forests now, but trying to preserve the whole ecosystem both for Itself and for Its future value. Do we log the last ponderosa off Boulder Mountain Just to buy beer and VCR's and trucks for the sawmill employees In Escalante? pick-u-p Do we try to save some of the last remaining wildlands In the lower USA? So that the plants and animals that are still living there can continue to survive, as a value by Itself, above and beyond whether or not It Is for the enjoyment of future humans. Only massive amounts of work by the "green lea" managed to save several species of whales from extinction by the commercial whaling companies. Once again, the "greenies" were Interfering with the legitimate rights of those companies to put a "natural resource" to Its "highest and best" use. The whales are the only other animals on this planet with brains comparably sized to ours. We almost killed them off, without even making the effort to understand them. endeavor. The "greenies" derive Saving the whales Is not an altruistic, self-les- s satisfaction working to help some of the other species escape the Indifferent extinction meted out by the "progress" of human commerce. There Is pleasure In visualizing a future world that still has some of the diversity of plant and animal life that we have today. The "greenies" would like to help make a future world for children that has not been "sterilized" of all life that could not be eaten or sold or used by mankind. self-servi- ng beyond left and right by Jack Campbell THE GREENIES AND THE GREEDIES Once again ripe alop haa been dumped In the hog trough and the plga are charging. Beat not to atand between them and the trough, leet one be trampled. They've been on a lean diet for years now, ever since the collapse of the uranium market Oil and gas now has that wonderfully special odor of free and easy money. At the State Land Board meeting In Moab last Friday, the squealing of the pigs was loud and shrill. That even a few acres In Deadhorse State Park should remain unblessed by the oilman's drill was totally unacceptable. Even though the current oil "play" encompasses nearly a million acres of land in Grand County, there was some strange connection between not drilling these few acres and depriving the children of Grand County of their educations and forcing them off to the big cities where they'll presumably die from drugs (or even worse, lose respect for their parents). These are hard times and tough choices we're facing. Death to our children or death to our land. Of course, to some of us It seems like there's an alternative where we do a wealth. The tax (and thoughtful and considered development of our new-fourevenues could benefit the schools and both county and city government If Dave Knutson's figures are even close to being correct only a few wells will go a long way toward solving the countys budget problems. We may have hundreds! Do we still need to compromise the vistas from our national parks or Deadhorse State Park In our mad rush for easy money? We could even consider stopping the tourist promotions for Moab that we are now spending your tax money on. Wouldn't you welcome a little more oil and gas, and a LOT less nd st self-interes- ts. Greed or Destruction? un-earne- d) tourism? oil and gas boom PLUS continued fueling of the tourism Or how about a Are that has engulfed Moab these past few years? The folks whose salaries you are paying are trying to bring you both at once (plus land speculation and unavailable housing). Moderation, planning, and control are dirty words with these folks dangerous obfuscations from the extremist, environmentalist, commie fringe. Cruelly erected barriers between the pigs and their feed trough. full-blo- The Green Jes vs "self-intere- the Greedies Awhile back, I was given a copy of the WALU "Sentinel" out of Price. In Its humorous lambasting of some of the foibles of the environmental community, It kept using the label "greenle" for the environmentalists. Since virtually all their concerns involved their fears that the "greenies" were interfering with their god given right to make money any way possible, I've had a hard time not using the label "greedies" for them. It's certainly not that there Is any Inherent problem with money. We all need some of It to live In this society. We all have a multitude of different values and priorities by which we live. It's only when money becomes the all encompassing, dominant pursuit that there la a problem. We all need to breathe, but few of us spend all our time thinking about breathing. Even Issues of "freedom and liberty" usually translate Into being allowed to scoop as deeply as possible Into nature's treasure chest, with little or no regard for anyone else living here now or In the future. Often It seems like there is more than Just pure greed motivating the "greedies." Erich Fromm thought that each human being has an energy source which had to be used to shape the world around themselves. If the culture or society allows, this energy manifests itself as a creative drive. If the creative outlets are blocked or stunted In or antl-llf- e childhood, this energy Is then necessarily channeled Into destruction. A pro-liforce must be contended with. It wasnt enough to our locals at the State Land Board meeting that there are hundreds to thousands of acres which are open to oil and gas drilling. That there were a few areas where one couldn't drill Is Intolerable. That SUWA Is protesting the Coors drill site Is registered Just as If SUWA was asking to permanently shut down all oil and gas development In Grand County. When the creative life forces have been twisted, there Is satisfaction In destroying the beautiful I sense there is more than a small connection between the vandalizing of the beautiful Kachina rock art panel on the San Juan River last week, and the desire of the "greedies" to have access to every square Inch of Grand County to use for their commercial gain. If a legal loop hole was discovered In the law preventing drilling In the national parks, they would be standing in line with their permit applications. Pursuing their "god given right to make as much money as they can." The State Land Board was again discussing ways to sue for their "right" to pursue commercial development Inside Arches National Park. Perhaps It Is Just that when peoples' lives become ugly, they then try to destroy beautiful-better the the whole world should be ugly to help hide their own unpleasantness. fe Environmentalism-- n "un-natur- al act" Nothing could be less "natural" than for one species to care about the welfare of another species. True, species benefit from each other, but that Is not the same as the act of caring. Some people are actively trying to prevent the extinction of other species, not Just because these species might be of some future use to mankind, but because they feel other species have an equally valid claim to life on this planeL |
