<< In many ways we treat the land better today than pre-Columbian
man did, and are better conservationists and stewards of the
environment. Earth Day enthusiasts should cease celebrating an
Eden that never was. >>
I don't know if this country necessarily treats its natural resources better
than any of the tribal societies that preceded it. True, many native American
tribes may have been major contributers to the extinction of of large mammals
and some bird species and did not have a conservation ethic, but I think that
industrialized nations have a greater potential for destruction than tribal
societies do. Look at all the harmful chemicals that are released into the
rivers and accumulate in toxic amounts in fish for instance, or the damming
of rivers. The more an industrial society advances in technology and improves
the quality of life for its members, the more luxuries and frivolities its
members require, like theme parks and malls. Its members also live longer and
so their numbers increase because the living are replacing the dead at an
increasingly faster rate, more than an ecosystem can sustain. Other factors
like wars and diseases help keep numbers down, but the the population numbers
still manage to increase even if many portions of the population have only
two children. We DO have environmental laws, but they are often circumvented,
such as the building of the dam in the range of the Endangered snail darter.
A lot of people would love to see the laws protecting animal species repealed
entirely. So, while tribal societies may not have been totally harmonious
with nature as they have been idealistically portayed, they're certainly the
lesser of the two evils by far when compared to industrialised nation-states.
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