Posted on 01/14/2006 4:46:12 PM PST by Logic Times
A Lesson in Conservation
0.0105%
(2,000/19,000,000)
In this number, we see Environmentalism clash with Conservation once again. In the Environmentalist world, mankind is not worth 0.0105%, whereas in the world of Conservation, 0.0105% actually is conservation, and damn good conservation, too.
0.0105%
The question of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge comes down to this number - the 2000 acres out of 19,000,000 that make up ANWR proposed for oil exploration. Very much like our inability to grasp the budgetary billions that are tossed around in congressional appropriation subcommittees, our minds have difficulty grasping how small 0.0105% really is.
(to see graphics, see hyperlink)
Theodore Roosevelt, the father of Conservation, said in 1907:
"In utilizing and conserving the natural resources of the Nation, the one characteristic more essential than any other is foresight...The conservation of our natural resources and their proper use constitute the fundamental problem which underlies almost every other problem of our national life."
Nothing could better fit the idea of "utilizing and conserving" than to set aside an area the size of South Carolina while an area the size of a golf course is developed for the far-reaching geopolitical and economic benefit of 291,000,000 people. Both goals – sustaining nature and sustaining mankind – are simultaneously achieved.
If drilling in ANWR were a question of developing all 19,000,000 acres of land, there are some who would still support the effort, recognizing the staggering importance of energy independence in a world where massive stockpiles of oil are controlled by Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and duplicitous Saudi sheiks. In such a debate, wiser people would of course argue that we must maintain some percentage of the refuge for future generations. If the response to that reasonable appeal was to give back 99.9895% to the caribou and to nature, who could possibly argue? Apparently, madmen who think mankind is not worth 0.0105%...and those in government who crave madmen's dollars.
Copyright © 2006 Dan Hallagan. All Rights Reserved.
| West Virginia | 41 | 24,231 square miles |
| Maryland | 42 | 12,407 square miles |
| Hawaii | 43 | 10,932 square miles |
| Massachusetts | 44 | 10,555 square miles |
| Vermont | 45 | 9,615 square miles |
| New Hampshire | 46 | 9,351 square miles |
| New Jersey | 47 | 8,722 square miles |
| Connecticut | 48 | 5,544 square miles |
| Delaware | 49 | 1,954 square miles |
| Rhode Island | 50 | 1,545 square miles |
| District of Columbia | 51 | 68.25 square miles (176.75 square km) |
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