FROM MORNING DRIVE JOURNAL FEBRUARY 1, 2001

I do have some sympathy

for the tree huggers' position and believe we cannot ever preserve too much pristine wilderness; yet in the main I have a farmer's sensibility, that the earth is here for us to use. To use, not abuse. To husband, not to plunder. I think man is an animal on the landscape no less than all the other creatures, and man's needs should be considered too.

Yet husbanding may be a difficult word to define to the satisfaction of all of us. What is husbanding for me is plunder for another.

I think if we take, we need to put back. If we use, we need to restore. If we break, we need to repair.

I'm not sure our President and his greedy minions could ever understand what I'm talking about, and that's scary. Our nation is poised to plunder big time for big profits for the big guys, the earth be damned.

The days are lengthening noticeably. The sunlight rips and races earlier, dawdles longer in the evening. We have enough blue sky this morning to cheer February coming in.

The morning is crisp enough there is frost tight to the windows of the car. In a few minutes my fingers feel like chunks of meat thawing but not thawed. The red of the house, the sunlight - this is the answer. What is the question?

The rain earlier in the week has taken the softness of the snow. The snowbanks are hard-edged now, sharp lines with shadow.

The flag at the cemetery in Fairwater hangs limp. To the west and north, a heavy grey cover of cloud coming on. The world is constantly a battle ground - darkness and light, sun and clouds, cold and its absence. Something to be gained, something lost.

Comments

[Sharon]

I agree, man's needs must be considered too but I must ask just how many million dollar condos does man need? How many white bread gated communities? How many homes does one person need and how many forests must be destroyed to cater to his arrogance? I don't really have an answer because I know that every path I walk is man made and has destroyed much nature just so I can kid myself into believing that I'm really walking in nature. Man has directed the creek. I am killing millions of living things with each step I take. Once, at Yosemite, we were camping and people were breaking branches off the trees for firewood. There was a huge RV next to us with a loud generator and they were making margaritas and had a spotlight outside. The ranger tried to impress upon us the importance of putting every bit of food inside the proper storage bin. Bears had learned to break into cars and now mama was teaching her cubs. So much damage had been done to cars that the decision was made that mama must be destroyed. The rangers drew straws, no one wanted to do it, and the unlucky one found mama and put a poison dart into her heart. She fell dead and the ranger wept against a tree. We left a day early and never went back.

[Tom Montag]

As always, Sharon, the question is: How much is enough. Often, we don't know when to say when. The cup overflows and milk runs on the floor. We admire moderation in other people, but don't tell us to stop....