: Hi Spidey,
: This isn't aimed at you or anyone, I just feel frustrated. I respectfully
: feel that most on this board are conservationist in that we like to be
: around nature and try to keep the water and air as clean as possible and a
: reasonable balance with progress. In the long run nature is going to loose
: because our population expansion will continue to grow practically
: unchecked. At the beginning of WW2 our population was 130 million, now in
: a short 60 years it is just short of 300 million. Will it be 700 million
: in another 60 years? So a Spotted Owl or a Snail Darter isn't about a
: Spotted Owl or a Snail Darter but really about us 60 years from now. Where
: do we draw the line? The Sierra Club is like the little Dutch boy with his
: finger in the dike but I don't think it will work. Here in Indiana we have
: River Watch to try to help save our waters. When I was a boy, families
: would fish the small rivers (30 ft. wide) and take home nice catches of
: fish for supper. Now, you might catch a tire in knee deep water. Ten years
: ago I walked every stream in my county to see what was happening to the
: water. Almost all farm septic systems run to the streams because the
: ground won't leach away the water because of the clay. There are solutions
: but they are very expensive. It wa easy to see where the black granular
: septic came out in pipes from drainage ditches. And the farm land that is
: drained also comes dirrectly into the streams with pesticides, firtilizer
: & herbicides. Also, the fields cleared of trees and drained of water
: causes the streams to be only inches deep instead of many feet deep as
: they use to be. I would ask the question, if not the Seirra Club, then
: who?

: Take care,
: John

John raises a very interesting point, not only concerning the Sierra Club, but other activist groups as well. In my opinion, many of these issues are complex problems but the groups only reduce them to some simplistic solution. For example that farmers use fertilizers and pesticides to increase their yields results in less expensive food or at least more food to feed hungry people; but it does damage to the environment when it gets into the streams. They shouldn't be blamed because they seek the most economical solution because we all do the same thing when we shop. We buy the items that are the most economical for us, not necessarily the most expensive.Solutions for septic systems, as John points out, are expensive; many groups say "the other guy" should incurr the expense but how many of us will buy the most expensive product from him to help pay for the expensive system to improve the environment?
Groups like the Sierra Club are important to keep these things in our mind but they need more brainpower to tackle the complex issues rather than a quick simplistic solution that attracts lots of attention.
I didn't mention kayak building, so I did now.
Alex Warren