[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
RE: GBlist: Wetlands
Thank you David! Well said. I support this view wholeheartedly.
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: David Seth Melchert on Wed, Aug 27, 1997 3:47 PM
Subject: Re: GBlist: Wetlands
To: greenbuilding@crest.org
Charlie, Twila, et al:
I am a bit surprised to find property rights touted in this forum, but it does
bring up a good question to the
fore.
In our pursuit of Individual Rights, our society has found that this includes
the right to destroy our
ancesrty, destroy our communities, destroy our families and social order, and
destroy our environment. OK, one
might argue that these things have not been destroyed, they have only changed
form, but I would submit that
they have not changed in ways that contribute to interconnectedness,
wholeness, or with a sense of sacredness.
In our individualistic society, the main way we have to counter the chaotic
whims of the multitudes of
individuals (which unfortunately leads to the above-mentioned destruction) is
our government. Government is,
for better or worse, the best common voice of the society as a whole. I won't
digress into the arguments about
how well all segments of society are represented, which they are not. The
point is that without some sort of
overarching check in the system, "individual rights" (of which property rights
are a subset) can lead to an
extreme whereby the whole loses while individuals grab for their own piece of
what they want.
You folks speak disparagingly of snails and bugs and flora and fauna as if
protecting these things is an afront
to the almighty individual perogative. These things are in fact minute details
of the big picture of Nature,
but Nature depends on every bit of minutia that exists. Wetlands are a
critical element in the big picture of
things and are indispensable, each and every little mud puddle. Treat them
with great respect.
In the debate over property rights vs the environment, the most important goal
to me is to find a balance that
includes a view of Nature as something whole, complex and sacred. I would
argue that the extent of destruction
wreaked across this land is so severe that it has come time to pull back to a
better balance. That
understanding is where the protection of wetlands has come from, which you
seem to view as so extreme. Step
back a moment from your little individual ponds and consider the vast
stretches of seasonal flood planes and
swamps that have been destroyed in the past 100 years. The reason there are
such stiff penalties for wetlands
destruction is exactly because it has become so important to save what is
left, every bit of it. Wetlands are
the most fertile havens for diverse life forms in our land, after estuaries.
The whole point of Green Building is to start to respect and work with the
cycles and details and flows of
nature, not to conquer it to satisfy our individual desires. We recognise that
there is something more
important than our individual whims that our souls, species, and lives depend
upon. We are looking to
incorporate the beauty and wholeness and interconnectedness of nature into or
work, so that our society and
Nature may endure.
Thanks for bringing up a good subject!
Seth Melchert
______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by CREST <www.crest.org>
Environmental Building News <www.ebuild.com> and Oikos <www.oikos.com>
For instructions send e-mail to greenbuilding-request@crest.org.
______________________________________________________________________
------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------
Received: by niehs.nih.gov with SMTP;27 Aug 1997 15:47:24 -0400
Received: from athena.digimark.net (athena.digimark.net [208.202.26.20])
by cliff.niehs.nih.gov (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA28966
for <james3@NIEHS.NIH.GOV>; Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:47:22 -0400
Received: from solstice.crest.org (solstice.crest.org [208.202.27.10]) by
athena.digimark.net (8.8.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id PAA06962; Wed, 27 Aug 1997
15:48:18 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (from majordom@localhost) by solstice.crest.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id
PAA11461 for greenbuilding-outgoing; Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:44:38 -0400 (EDT)
X-Authentication-Warning: solstice.crest.org: majordom set sender to
owner-greenbuilding@crest.org using -f
Received: from ns.waonline.com (ns.waonline.com [208.192.52.129]) by
solstice.crest.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id PAA11457 for
<greenbuilding@crest.org>; Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:44:36 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from davidmel (1Cust3.max5.san-francisco.ca.ms.uu.net
[153.35.235.131]) by ns.waonline.com (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id MAA14186 for
<greenbuilding@crest.org>; Wed, 27 Aug 1997 12:45:28 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <3404837C.56B9@waonline.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 12:43:56 -0700
From: David Seth Melchert <dmelchert@waonline.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02E-KIT (Win95; U)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: greenbuilding@crest.org
Subject: Re: GBlist: Wetlands
References: <970827123556_-601154844@emout02.mail.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Sender: owner-greenbuilding@crest.org
Precedence: bulk
______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by CREST <www.crest.org>
Environmental Building News <www.ebuild.com> and Oikos <www.oikos.com>
For instructions send e-mail to greenbuilding-request@crest.org.
______________________________________________________________________