JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
Some are still good to have around. Nature Conservancy is my favorite.
Rather than waste time trying to fight developers in court (usually a losing
battle), they go out & buy land out from under them. In a few instances,
they've even set up dummy corporations, posing as developers so they're
allowed into the bidding process for tracts of land. I love it.


I'm 100% in favor of people being able to let their own property go
"back to nature" if that is their desire. My general philosophy is that
you should be able to do what you want on your own ground- up to the
point where it begins having an unreasonable impact on the neighbors.
For instance, if my windward neighbor wants to burn the old tires off
of his car rather than haul them to the dump (and my yard fills up with
foul smelling smoke as a result) then his activity becomes my business.

As a boater, I try to be a good steward of the environment. I don't
dump trash or untreated sewage into the water, I use a vaccum sander, I
don't have my bottom scrubbed without hauling out, and I take pride in
the fact that (for a boat, at least) my trawler achieves exceptional
fuel economy. I even burn a mix of 20% biodiesel. But darned if some
guy in a kayak is going to tell me I can't operate my boat at all
because it isn't entirely environmentally benign.

It would be better if some of these people would simply be honest and
say, "We'd rather have a waterfront park (or, in some cases, a private
residential development) on the shoreline where the marina and
boatyards are now. We don't want to ever hear an engine of any sort on
the water.We don't want to see a bunch of fiberglass hulls blocking the
view of the open water from the public beach. If you're not young
enough and fit enough or don't have time enough to go everywhere by
kayak you have no business at all on the water."

Like most extremists, the major problem with the noisy wackos is the
damage they do to
the image of the responsible people. In the political field, for
example, you have people like Rush Limbaugh who are cartoon stereotypes
doing a disservice to normal, sincere, and thoughtful conservatives, or
Michael Moore types who make it all too easy for many right wingers to
characterize "all liberals" as unbridled extremists.

I think there are a lot of environmentalists who do good work, and we
do need some restrictions against private interests needlessly
despoiling the public air, water, and landscape. The nature of man is
to alter his enviornment. In my opinion, we should use resources
responsibly, rather than try to live an impossible lifestyle where we
don't use any resources at all.