Re: Protect the natural world

["Don E. Z'Boray" <zboray@newbie.net>]

Dear and Gentle Readers,
Catching up on my list e-mail after a business trip, I found it
incredulous to be reading that material was so hard to find regarding
the protection of the natural world.  Immediately jumping into my mind
as a suggestion was Theodore Roosevelt's dedication speech upon the
signing of the law creating Yellowstone National Park.  Absolutely the
best fodder for any Republican organization seeking quotations related
to efforts to "protect the natural world"!  But as that was an event of
the Republicans, I will leave it to the Republicans to find the quotes
they need from it.  Knowing that they don't know what their own party's
man said about the subject almost makes me LMAO.
Hey, guys!  Ever hear of Thoreau?  For goodness sakes ... try David
Foster's book about him:  "Journey through a Transformed Landscape".
OK.  I'll try to soften it a bit with some help to find quotations from
other sources, however ...
	"Those wishing to exploit the land for their own private
	benefit never cease their political efforts.  Those who would
	protect the natural world cannot afford to do less."
		-- R.F. Dasmann
	"For certainty, man is of kin to the beasts."
		-- Sir Francis Bacon
	"To be a witness to technology and natural history at the same
	time makes one stop and reflect on what we can accomplish when
	federal, state and private entities work together."
		-- Illinois Governor George H. Ryan, Aug. 14, 1999
		   Opening of the Salt Creek Wilderness at the
		   Brookfield Zoo
	ref: http://www.state.il.us/gov/press/99/Aug/zoo-open.htm
	"Humans simply cannot exist in the natural world without
	exerting some impact. Nevertheless, while we cannot hope to
	have no impact, we can hope to have less impact."
		-- Jon Witman,
		   Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
	"In order to love the other, the stranger, the mysterious
	aspects of the world; in order to be a free being, an
	autonomous, fearless and imaginary being; in order to embrace
	and protect the natural world and to create for oneself and for
	others the space in which transformation and creation are
	always possible, one must love the body, the mutable, the
	fragile, the mortal body."
		-- Rikki Ducornet, sci-fi author, in an interview
		   with Alexander Laurence for "The Write Stuff"
		   on AltX
	ref: http://www.altx.com/int2/rikki.ducornet.html
	"The environmental movement needs to be careful not to set
	itself in opposition to humanism, however strongly we may
	be committed to non-anthropocentric ways of thinking about
	the natural world and how best to protect it,"
		-- William Cronon, environmentalist and author,
		   in his presentation "Humanist Environmentalism:
		   A Manifesto"
	Cronon is the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History,
	Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of
	Wisconsin at Madison; previously for 10 years, Yale University.
	Author of "Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature"
	"The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy,
	and after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish
	what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only
	hope."
		-- Wendell Berry
	ref: http://www.beldon.org/
	"Whether we like it or not, the natural and the human
	environment are inseparable. It would be a great mistake to
	try to completely erase human traces from any part of the
	landscape. We need to protect the natural world, but we also
	need to protect reminders of the human past so that we can
	learn from them."
		-- Bonnie Stepenoff, "Landscapes Remember"
ref: http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/conmag/1998/02/3.html
How about why fires are beneficial to forests?  How rad is that?
	"We've become so efficient at putting fire out that we
	haven't had any burns for years. Superficially, trees are being
	saved, but the natural structure and function of the forest is
	being destroyed. Our role as a national park is to protect the
	natural world, and since fire is natural, we should be
	encouraging it to occur." 
		-- Frank Burrows, research biologist at Pukaskwa
		   National Park, Ontario, Canada
	"You are not going to repopulate forests with wildlife unless
	you remove the people."
		-- John W. Terbough, biologist, Duke University
>From the timely quotes department ...
	"Every time I have some moment on a seashore, or in the
	mountains, or sometimes in a quiet forest, I think that this
	is why the environment has to be preserved."
I kinda dare a Republican outfit to use this quotation ... the speaker
was .... Bill Bradley, during a debate in Hanover, N.H. with V.P. Al
Gore .... ref:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/debate991027.html
	"Almost all citizens are supportive of environmental progress
	and many have a real affinity for the beauty of the natural
	world.  However, they often lack a true understanding of issues
	and a background necessary to make informed, rational decisions
	about environmental affairs."
		-- William Nieter, Director, Environmental Studies
		   Program, St. John's University
ref: http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/sjc/depts/env_studies/intro.html
The next two are from statements made at the dedication of the
Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Ashland, Wisconsin on
Nov. 9, 1999 - ref:
http://ashlandwi.com/placed/story/11-08-1999refuge.html:
	"We are only stewards of this earth for a short time, but we
	must protect for the next seven generations, for our grand-
	children and our great grandchildren."
		-- Leo LaFernier
	"We do have a lot of control being human. We should have the
	smarts to know that we have to save places so that other
	living things can survive too."
		-- Judy Pratt-Shelly
"The Promise of Nature" by  John Haught, attempts to re-ground Christian
belief in the sanctity of the natural world. Haught believes the
recovery of religious vision is the only way the earth's ecosystem will
survive.
In "The Lost Gospel of the Earth", California State Senator Tom Hayden
(Jane Fonda's first husband) condemns mainstream religions for
maintaining silence in the face of corporate  and government polluters
who are committing what Hayden terms "mortal sin against God's
creation."  But I don't recall the full quotation (but when I read it a
while back, I had found the book at the public library).
	"Why do so many Christians seem so unconcerned or even
	object to eco-justice? It troubles me."
		-- Paul Seto, retired  Presbyterian minister,
		   Santa Fe, N.M.
Eulogy for Minnesota State Senator Janet Johnson:
	http://www.me3.org/eulogy.html
Particularly (paraphrased) ... 
	"... Environmentalism is a way of thinking, a way of doing
	things better and smarter, investing in the future and
	preserving the natural world that is the foundation of all
	work and all wealth."
Resolution on Biological Diversity and Indigenous Peoples for the
Conference of the Parties III:
	http://www.alphacdc.com/ien/a-rebios.html
Also try "Islam and Ecology":
	http://www.crosscurrents.org/islamecology.htm
... Evidently,  "The Qur'an' and the Hadith are rich in proverbs and
    precepts that speak of the Almighty's design for creation and
    humanity's responsibility for preserving it."
... share that with your Republican buddies!
If you're really having problems finding things to quote about
protecting "the natural world", how about http://www.audubon.org
for a resource?
Or, http://www.igc.org/citizenalert/index.html ... Citizen Alert
Or, http://www.cousteausociety.org/
Or, http://www.nwf.org/ ... National Wildlife Federation
Or, http://www.biodiversityproject.org/
Or, http://www.earthday.net/ ... I'll bet there's a ton of content on
this topic there
Or, http://www.tnc.org/ - The Nature Conservatory
Or, http://www.earthsystems.org/ ...
Or, http://www.sierraclub.org/ ...
Or ... and this will thrill Republicans to their core:
	http://www.greens.org/
or ... Protecting the natural world is basis of the seventh principle
of the Unitarian Universalist Church -  the interdependent web of life
... ref: http://www.uua.org/principles.html ... perhaps the local
pastor would be a good resource for quotations? 
Then, of course, there are in the U.S., the ...
	National Environmental Policy Act
	California Environmental Quality Act
	California Environmental Quality Act, or
        Federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act
	Clean Water Act
	Clean Air Act
	Comprehensive Environmental Response Liability and Cleanup Act
	Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(... or are these just too "liberal" for Republicans?)
Btw, knowing "how to protect the natural world" is Skill 8 in The Basic
Eight Skills of Outdoor Adventures ... part of one of the "Five Worlds
of Girl Scouting", the "World of the Out-of-Doors" ...
Ref:  http://www.tcsys.com/troop250/basic_8.html
      http://www.open.org/~glscouts/site/whygirlscouts.html
Finally, I'm not sure how well this fits with the theme of the inquiry,
but I cannot pass it up ...
	"As far as I'm concerned, a rattlesnake has just as
	 much value as an eagle."
		-- Ted Turner, in an interview,
		   "Ted Turner Comes Home to Champion Environment"
ref: http://enquirer.com/editions/1999/05/12/loc_ted_turner_comes.html
atbty,
-- don  ;-)
Don E. Z'Boray		Steven Wright JumpStation
zboray@newbie.net	http://newbie.net/JumpStations/StevenWright/