Well BG, if you are around, it would take a big bang to light all those
candles on your birthday cake :-)
A few random thoughts. First, there are a lot of people who have better
lives due to Joe Garnder's compassion and dedication, and I'm proud to know
him personally. I respect his opinion and agree with it. Second, I think
Travis had a good comment about cutting people a little slack for their
comments-- things don't always come across the way they were intended. I
see where he is coming from about how some segments of society are
reproducing fastest and the likely implications of this.
But regardless of who is or isn't multiplying, there are alarmingly more of
us all the time, and we're going keep having a lot more people producing a
lot more waste and requiring a lot more food, space and other resources. We
desperately need to take responsibility for this and that starts with
education. Uneducated people are still able to vote, and I'm certain they
don't behave as responsibly as they could if they had a better science
education. Agree or disagree with me-- I don't care. I'm not talking ONLY
about a formal education-- I'm talking about learning from the ideas and
experiences of others, reading, discussing, etc. I just recently had a
discussion with someone on the role of science education in forming an
environmental ethic. The person said that knowing what's right and wrong is
more about compassion and common sense than education. I disagree. Sure,
that's a start, but the more you know, the better you are at making informed
decisions (and the more you know, the more you realize you DON'T know).
We in NANFA can do a part at educating each other and the world about the
plight of our native fishes. But we need to work together and respect our
differences. This is just a native fish "discussion" list, and I really
like it, but the really important stuff is what goes on in your lives in the
"real" world. We should be more of a forum of friends for discussion and
education. As a wise man in cajun country said "It's the fish, stupid!"
Oops, gotta run to my weekly Flat Earth Society meeting.
Jay DeLong
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