I’ve just finished reading a rather remarkable book: "Rosalie Edge, Hawk of Mercy" by Dyana Z. Furmansky. I was introduced to Ms. Furmansky when she delivered a lecture at DVOC, Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, in the spring. She had her book available for sale at that event.
Most of us from this general Delaware Valley area are familiar with the name “Rosalie Edge” from visits to Hawk Mountain. We know that she helped to stop the slaughter of migrating hawks at that site, and to ultimately purchase the mountaintop and establish the sanctuary which thousands visit in the autumn.
But how many of us know that she, married to a wealthy businessman, began her activism as a suffragette in the late 1920s? And that, as founder of ECC, she took on “Big Conservation”, including the National Audubon Society, and forced it to stop cozying up to commercial logging and firearms interests and get to work protecting America’s natural environment, wilderness and wildlife.
For many years it was an uphill battle, but Edge was equal to the task and was successful not only at Hawk Mountain, but also successful in safeguarding old growth pines and sequoias at King’s Canyon and Olympic Peninsula in the American West, both of which, through her tireless efforts, became national parks.
A success story.
But, as David Rains Wallace wrote on the dust jacket of Rosalie Edge, “Today, after two decades of reckless economic growth during which “Big Environment” has often seemed more interested in promoting squishy abstractions like ‘smart growth’ and ‘sustainability’ than in fighting for new national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas, it sure sounds familiar to me. Rosalie Edge, come back!”
DVOC elected to name its annual Conservation Award for Rosalie Edge - an excellent reminder of the work she did, and of the work that is yet to be done.
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Louisiana Oil Spill
I can't stop thinking about the massive oil spill in Louisiana. The most frightening thing about it is the fact that, in spite of space age technology, they don't know how to shut it off. So it keeps on gushing more and more, hour by hour. The estimate of gallons per hour keeps going up. The cleanup could take years, once they succeed in stopping the flow. So much for the fool-proof new oil rigs! So much for "Drill Baby Drill!" (Haven't heard much from her lately.)
The saltmarsh grasses were already compromised by overdevelopment when Katrina hit Louisiana; this accounted for the severity of the hurricane and storm surge damage. The remaining grasses will be still further destroyed by the oil, and the coastline will be made still more vulnerable.
The abundant wildlife on the Gulf Coast is already feeling the effects. One of the first reported casualties was a Northern Gannet, taken somewhere to be cleaned. Historically this has been mostly a futile effort, but it gives wildlife rehabilitators less of a feeling of helplessness.
Fishermen, shrimpers and crabbers, out of their normal line of work, are lining up to help spread booms to contain the oil. According to a report I heard yesterday on NPR, these people are making $48 an hour to do this. The bad part is that there are not enough booms available to do the job adequately.
I don't know what the long-term solution to all this might be. According to Jad Mouawad's editorial, "The Spill vs. a Need to Drill" in the Sunday, May 2 NY Times, "The country needs the oil - and the jobs... Much has changed since 1969. The nation's demand for oil has surged, rising more than 35 percent over the past four decades, while domestic production has declined by a third. Oil imports have doubled..." leading to more dependence on foreign oil and the intractable political problems that result.
Mouawad goes on to say: "... developing credible, cheap and abundant alternatives to oil will take many decades, and in the meantime, cars need gasoline and planes need kerosene. The United States is still the world's top oil consumer by far."
As they teach in environmental ethics classes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." We seem to be learning that the hard way.
The saltmarsh grasses were already compromised by overdevelopment when Katrina hit Louisiana; this accounted for the severity of the hurricane and storm surge damage. The remaining grasses will be still further destroyed by the oil, and the coastline will be made still more vulnerable.
The abundant wildlife on the Gulf Coast is already feeling the effects. One of the first reported casualties was a Northern Gannet, taken somewhere to be cleaned. Historically this has been mostly a futile effort, but it gives wildlife rehabilitators less of a feeling of helplessness.
Fishermen, shrimpers and crabbers, out of their normal line of work, are lining up to help spread booms to contain the oil. According to a report I heard yesterday on NPR, these people are making $48 an hour to do this. The bad part is that there are not enough booms available to do the job adequately.
I don't know what the long-term solution to all this might be. According to Jad Mouawad's editorial, "The Spill vs. a Need to Drill" in the Sunday, May 2 NY Times, "The country needs the oil - and the jobs... Much has changed since 1969. The nation's demand for oil has surged, rising more than 35 percent over the past four decades, while domestic production has declined by a third. Oil imports have doubled..." leading to more dependence on foreign oil and the intractable political problems that result.
Mouawad goes on to say: "... developing credible, cheap and abundant alternatives to oil will take many decades, and in the meantime, cars need gasoline and planes need kerosene. The United States is still the world's top oil consumer by far."
As they teach in environmental ethics classes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." We seem to be learning that the hard way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)