“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant, “What good is it?” If the land mechanism as a whole is good, then every part is good, whether we understand it or not. If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” ― Aldo Leopold
Finally Spring has settled into a familiar pace which temperatures near normal and rain nurturing the parched land. The last two days brought steady rain which the soil swallowed up without a puddle in sight. Even the earthworms did not have a reason to rise to the top as they usually do after a two-day soaking of the ground.
One of my hero, Aldo Leopold, would be proud of the people of Wisconsin who recently defeated Governor Walker’s mining repair bill. Just like the “budget repair bill” that he rammed through our legislator in spite of the people’s’ outrage, the mining bill would have done irreparable harm to the very fabric of nature in our state. Imagine a strip mine four miles wide, one mile deep, and 25 miles long with permanent rights granted to divert rivers and groundwater for its operation and the dumping of slag into nearby wetlands; and all of this to show “job creators” that “Wisconsin is open for business.”
Only a blind and greedy fool could believe that such a thing would benefit or state. The only benefit a rational observer could possibly detect would be the profits filling the pockets of politicians and corporations alike. But we, the people of Wisconsin, defeated such an outrage and god willing we will defeat Scott Walker with the recall election in early June.
In celebration of this year’s Earth Day NASA’s on April 22, Webby Award-winning Global Climate Change website, http://climate.nasa.gov , has unveiled a new version of its popular image gallery, “State of Flux.” earth-day:
NASA image gallery highlights Earth’s changing face.
I wonder what Aldo Leopold would think if he could see those images, and I am certain that he would confirm what he said so long ago:
“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
Aldo would be proud to know that here in Wisconsin we still cherish nature and we remember that without the earth we are nothing. And yes, the good fight continues in the State he loved and once called home.
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