Pitches AsUED  U BiO WN (Be tol Ber DAN 37 
business can create an even better 
world than that placed here by the 
hand of God Himself. Show them 
enough profit and THEY can do 
anything! 
Man has come to believe that 
he can act with impunity in mat- 
ters relating to the total environ- 
ment. The problem is that few 
men have yet acquired the simple 
wisdom propounded by Barry 
Commoner, among others, that 
“everything is tied to everything 
else.” 
Log handlers on the docks at 
Seattle are not supposed to know 
that a timber resource is being de- 
stroyed by over-exploitation be- 
cause Japan will pay any price 
for the logs. The loggers on the 
ground are not supposed to know 
that part of the earth’s landbase 
may be destroyed by the clearcut- 
ting for timber. After all, the small 
part of the vast forest they are 
working in is only a small part of 
the world’s vast reserves. (Little 
do they know that the world’s 
vast reserves have all but disap- 
peared. ) 
The merchant in the grocery 
store, who depends upon the log- 
ger’s wives for purchase of his ero- 
ceries, 1s not supposed to know 
that both a land base and a timber 
base is being destroyed. It is of 
little concern to him that Japan 
needs logs or a home-builder in 
Indiana needs 2x4 studs. 
The banker in the small west- 
ern town is not supposed to know 
that the money reserves he worries 
about are there at steep cost to 
the environment. If he thinks of 
his grandchildren at all, he thinks 
in terms of how much money he 
can leave them. The banker and 
all the others must ultimately 
learn that you can make more 
paper money at the stroke of a 
pen. But you can’t make trees 
short of 50 to 100 years, or make 
a new soil profile in less than 1,000 
years, or make a new species of 
animals in all eternity. 
Environmentalists are damned 
for putting men out of work, or 
putting roadblocks in the way of 
“progress” and a broadened tax 
base. It is too bad for that is not 
their intent. The roadblocks often 
have to be put in the way to make 
the public sit up and take notice, 
and to bring out the facts which 
are often obscured. 
If I may speak as an environ- 
mentalist, I would have to say 
that I am saddened by the lack of 
knowledge and understanding by 
those who criticize loudest. If they 
could but inform themselves, there 
would be far fewer conflicts be- 
tween evironmental and economic 
concerns. A good case in point is 
that concerning the suit between 
the Wyoming Outdoor Council (of 
which I am a director) and the 
U.S. Forest Service. An environ- 
mental impact statement would 
bring out many of the facts, which 
the general public does not now 
know. If they did know, the deci- 
sion might be different. 
RITUAL 
Clock alarm ringing; 
dawn coloring Eastern sky; 
Meadowlark singing. 
—Joe Dvorak 
