Greenpeace

Here at Fort Benning, where as a reservist I am on my 2 weeks of annual training (for the last time, thank God!), they have plenty of the endagered Red CockadeWoodpeckers out in the woods.  My question is, where have all the Red Headed Woodpeckers up North gone to? ai haven't seen any this year in my woods in Illinois.  Maybe they, too belong on the Endangered Species list.

Dear Friends,

Here we go, my very first blog, and I still don't even know what a URL is. Isn't this new technology wonderful? Well, to me it is - new, that is. I'm 51 and don't have a home computer. But thanks to Greenpeace I can now join the 4th. Estate, in addition to helping save the planet.

Where have all the trees gone? Not just in the Amazon, but right here in my home state of Illinois, deforestation is on the move. I don't just mean strip mines, which actually have to comply with some sort of rudimentary efforts at reclamation. Wherever you go, trees get no respect, and the sound of chainsaws echoes through the remotest rural river valleys, even on subzero days like today.

The pioneers had no choice, they lived in ignorance.  What is the excuse for those of my generation? They persist in the tradition of clearing away hedgerows, long after it makes any sense to do so.

It's as if they have become the servants of their toys and gadgets, rather than the other way around. If you have a chainsaw, you are obligated to use it

I can remember when I was a kid, there were hedgerows everywhere, and they only mowed the roadside ditches once or twice a year.  They were careful not to mow or cut brush during the nesting seasons of the pheasants and quail, because they made a cottage industry of hunting them. But this came to an end during the late 70's and early 80's, because free trade and Reaganomics kept the price of grain so artificiially low, the farmers began literally planting from fencerow to fencerow.

Now it seems that everyone else has gotten into the act, from suburban homeowners to county highway maintenance crews. As a result, this once beautiful countryside looks like a desert most of the year, except when the monstrously huge GMO corn grows during the Summer months.

Does this affect the climate?  You bet! Not just overall contributing to global warming and desertification, but even on a more local scale. The vast ribbons of highway at the Interstate interchanges have more than once been observed as the spawning grounds for tornados, including those which devastated Utica, Il (where I am typing this) on April 20, 2004.They were first spotted forming in the clouds, directly above the interchange between I-80 and I-39. We make the deserts, which then make the weather.

So when you buy a house, don't worry about the neighbors trying to make their property look like some sort of English estate, with no vegetation, a vast lawn and a clear view of the highway, neighbor's homes, etc. This is the fashion now, because everyone wants to show off their homes. It made sense in the 13th. century, when you had to see robbers and enemies coming to loot you, but not anymore. Let's dispense with this archaic fashion. Instead, plant trees, flowers, vegetable gardens, utilize natural landscaping, etc. Feng Shui is a wonderful concept, which some of us have been doing since before we even knew what it was.Focus your living outdoors. A house should be little more than a glorified tent, after all. It's the land that matters, and which will live on after we are gone.  Leave it in better condition than it was when you found it! A house is a place to live in, not an investment to be put on display 24/7, like a new car in a dealer's showroom.

As Al Gore said, think globally, act locally. And set the example. For example, while those around me built McMansions, complete with heated garages, I built a 1900 square footer which includes a walkout basement facing West (should have been South!), normal ceilings (not cathedral),efficient appliances, and we went crazy on the insulation. I literally spend 1/10 as much to heat and cool this place as my neighbors do, and the only alternative energy source is an efficient fireplace.  

Speaking of Al Gore,why isn't he the #1 candidate among the Democrats, anyway?  Not only does he have the best ideas, but he actually WON in 2000! He's paid his dues! Maybe the Greens ought to draft him, if the Democrats decide that their little traditional issues are more important than our continuing survival on planet Earth.

Of course, they are better on average than the Republicans who don't believe in the most basic elements of science, such as evolution.

All for now, but your comments are welcome.

Regards, Il Carbonaro