When I was growing up in Washington State the big environmental fight was over protection of local old-growth forest. Environmental extremists would drive steel spikes into tree trunks to break loggers’ chainsaws and timber workers would nail dead Spotted Owls to sign posts, went the rumors. My divorced Mom and Dad were respectively an environmental activist and land developer, so this played out almost as nasty in the news as it did at home. I experienced both perspectives. What happened to families that depended on logging was awful—I saw it—but ultimately society judged that virgin forests in the Pacific Northwest were more valuable, and I agree. That’s my take anyway; certainly you could find voices from both camps that would passionately argue neither won.
It ruins livelihoods to make the moral decision to sacrifice industry for conservation. History favors the conservationists though. They preserve something more valuable than the loggers’/miners’/drillers’ legacy, I’m sorry to say.
So fuck this:
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to identify national monuments that can be rescinded or resized – part of a broader push to open up more federal lands to drilling, mining and other development.
— “Trump orders review of national monuments, seeks to allow development”, Reuters.com, April 26, 2017
Trump is targeting all or part of monuments that make up 100,000 acres or more, and were created by presidential proclamation since 1996.
— “24 national monuments threatened by Trump’s executive order”, USAToday.com, April 26, 2017
Also, I broke my leg again.
Yeah, climbing at Malibu Creek a couple weeks ago. Falling at Malibu Creek, to be precise. As much as the hike in sucked, the hike out mega sucked. No surgery this time—nice try, Universe—but a couple more months on crutches and a sweet cast.
