I've never been what you call an "environmentalist". I want to get that out at the onset of this post. This entry is coming from the same Antifederalist Libertarian that believes private property rights and free enterprise to be the core of American values.
Just so you don't think I've lost my compass.
But I'm an outdoor sort of guy. I've hiked the trails of several states. Under the direction of my uncles I did my part to protect the lakes of Central Florida from being overrun by warmouth and speckled perch. I've worked on trail maintenance for both hiking and mountan biking in protected wildland areas. I tried my hand (and foot, back and possibly even my head) at mountain biking. I've even tallied an impressively mediocre one (1) specie on the North American Wild Turkey Grand Slam. Oh, and I've done some really good reading in a deer stand...
So I do have this thing for nature.
So lets talk about it for a spell. A few stories.
First off, let's go back to high school. I don't really know how you feel about those days but I can say I had some exceptional science teachers. They got me involved in some conservation and ecology work. I got to do some work in the field. And I could see the benefit of a group like The Nature Conservancy.
Fast forward a few years. I'm out of college, married, a father of two and well into my career. I can still see the scenery as we drove past the tree buffer zone of the local landfill and I heard one of the men I respect the most say, "that right there used to be some of the finest hunting property in this county" as he pointed off in the direction of the trash heap - constantly shifted about by bulldozers.
Something clicked. "Habitat" was no longer a theory. It wasn't some abstract idea of a random hippie. That hunting property was screwed up right that minute.
And thus was born a recycler. If it comes in my house and its plastic, cardboard, paper or aluminum, it's sorted and recycled. I don't typically recycle glass but that's mostly because someone told me that every time you throw a glass bottle away, Al Gore gets heartburn. I don't know if that's true but it's too good to not at least try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?
And then about a year ago, I'm reading one of my favorite blogs, "Vanishing South Georgia" by Brian Brown. It's an excellent blog covering the parts of Old Georgia that are slipping into history. Old houses, cemeteries, stores, barns, etc are recalled mostly through the gifted photography of Mr. Brown himself. (If you're curious, there's a link over there ---->)
But on this day there was more text than usual. The photos in this particular entry were shocking to me. It was eye-opening to behold the pollution on the Altamaha River. The purpose of the entry was to document the efforts of Paddle Georgia kayaking a stretch of the river near industry. Seeing the minuscule flotilla passing lakes of...well...what is that color? It's still shocking.
And then the photographer turned this writer's table over. "It’s strange to me how when I was growing up, Southerners made fun of the Rust Belt cities up north for not caring about their resources and for being such bad stewards of God’s earth." His words bit hard. I could have shrugged them off easy enough...if only they weren't so true,
It was in that moment that I realized the imminent threat to the most Southern thing of all. Not the barns, not the grand houses or churches or monuments. What was at risk was the land itself.
I wanted to cry.
For centuries Southerners (long before there were United States or even American colonies) have raised crops out of this earth, harvested animals that thrived on its bounty, drank the water of the rivers, lakes and streams. The society itself was dependent on the many incarnations of agriculture - each of which are dependent on the habitat we call the South. If the land did well, we did well. If the water did well, we did well.
And then to think of the Federal EPA...how is it that we find ourselves taking land, water and air conservation instructions from the very entity that gave us Reconstruction, the Industrial Model and Sherman's March to the Sea?
But that's the boat we find ourselves in.
So that's where I've arrived. That's why I value the conservation education that my children have received. That's why I take an active role in adding to it. That's why I'm willing to support the work of some environmental groups. I don't support conservation because the government says we should, I support it in spite of what Washington says. I support real, proven methods of protecting the land and water and air - not the ever-changing silliness dreamed up by bureaucrats trying to justify their salary.
I sit here as a man that refuses to fall for the aforementioned Mr. Gore's "truth", inconvenient or otherwise. But I also know that if anyone anywhere cares about the condition of this land it ought to be good ol' God-fearing, farming, fishing, hunting, hiking, biking, paddling, porch-sitting Southerners. If there is a way to make this land produce energy or other resources without spoiling the habitat, shouldn't it be Southerners? If someone is going to make sure that there are places to hunt, hike, fish, bike or farm, shouldn't it be Southerners?
Because if we lose the South itself then we've flat out failed at being Southerners.
