preciate, and I’m deeply intrigued by what can be discovered in nature. True to the Boy Scout Outdoor Code, I am considerate in the outdoors and I am conservation minded. Few things anger me as much as finding litter in the wild. People who pollute piss me off.Incongruous as it may seem, I am also an employee of one of the big evil developers/builders that is plundering the foothills north of Boise and Eagle. My father is a home builder too, so my entirely livelihood has been dependent upon a vibrant and growing community…which necessitates the destruction of natural habitat so that we can build homes, make money, and eat.
How can I live with myself with all of that internal conflict? Easy! I don’t believe the media and I know the measure of my creation.
God commanded Adam and Eve to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over all that is on the earth (Genesis 1). Interesting words! If we are to “subdue” the earth…that means we should conquer it, put it into submission, and cultivate it (Merriam-Webster online). That implies that the earth is in some sort of wild state which needs subduing. That flies in the face of the environmentalists and no-growthers. Unfortunately, most of those people don’t really believe in the Bible or in God and my premise wouldn’t be accepted in a debate with them.Some scientists and crazy political/actor environmentalists have been telling us that the climate is worsening and that all kinds of species, including humans, are going to become extinct. My question is…Who determined the baseline measures for the ideal climate and quantity of species? Do we really know if things are getting worse? Worse compared to what?
I am an avid birder. Several times a week I make a tally of the bird species I identify in as I hike along rivers, lakes, woods, desert, wherever I am really. I submit my findings to http://www.ebird.org/ which is operated by Cornell University and is being used to aid the science of bird range and migration. What a great tool to measure with! But it has only been around for a few years. Too bad Adam and Eve didn’t have eBird, and then we would have had a truer baseline measurement! But even then, God intended mankind to subdue the earth, which necessitates changing the natural wild and unruly state of things. What a sacred responsibility we have to care for and tend our beautiful garden.
I do not deny that many of my fellow human beings have abused and polluted this planet and have tragically wiped out certain species of plants and animals. I support research and development of technology that would help us be more kind to our planet (just not funded or mandated by government). Thankfully, nature is more resilient than anything else I know of.
It is my dream to buy a huge, perhaps previously abused, tract of land and make a birding and wildlife paradise of it. Perhaps I would be creating too much good nesting habitat and the population of Black-capped Chickadees and House Wrens would become a problem and Idaho Fish and Game would make me start thinning the flocks to meet their standard of what ideal population numbers would be.As developers, we go to extraordinary efforts and expense to conserve wetlands, revegetate cattle-trodden land, increase riparian and wildlife corridors, and be energy and water efficient. We do it because it is the right thing to do…and of course because you the homeowners are really the ones that pay for it! I’m excited to see what new animals and birds we draw into our project because of our restoration and enhancement efforts. (Check out our website at http://www.avimor.com/)
Where we live in Idaho, it is a desert. As mankind has flowed into and developed the Treasure Valley, there have been incredible increases in the number of trees, plants, and riparian habitat. I am convinced that there are more varieties of birds here now than there were when Lewis and Clark passed through this state. Environmentalists would perhaps see this as a victory…yet if we use some arbitrary baseline measure, how do we know if it is really good or really bad???
Something that I hope most people can relate to is the internal sense of joy and peace that one feels as they plant a flower, raise a garden, clear a hiking trail in the mountains, or construct a building. When those things are done with honor for our stewardship, then we can rest assured that we are doing right by God and by the earth.
