Summer in Big Sky Country often
means one cannot see the forest for
the trees or visa versa. The season's
heat and dryness brings fire. As of
today, least fifty thousand acres are
aflame within our fair state. Given
that's .053 percent of the ninety four
million plus acres within Montana's
borders we're not in immediate danger.
Yet the smoke resulting from all of
said conflagrations travels quickly.
But when it starts to get hard to catch
your breath, suddenly it's your problem.
Mother Nature has it's way of naturally
maintaining her vast resources. In our
forests a bolt of lighting quickly cleans
out what we humans have come to love.
However almost as quickly, life returns
and soon blackened soil is covered with
sprouting seedlings. From the start man
has tried to control natural resources -
often for naught. Which is why Mother
Nature must occasionally bitch slap us
back to reality with something we can't
possibly control even if we wanted to!
So... why do we all keep trying?
One should never take anything for
granted. Yet mankind has done just
that since the dawn of our existence.
Whether plucking forbidden fruit or
poisoning ground water, we've no
problem doing what's obviously the
wrong thing. After generations of
abuse, it's finally catching up with us.
And while Donald Trump considers
global warming a "hoax" I doubt he
really wants Manhattan's streets to
become Venetian canals. However
stranger things have happened...
On July twentieth the New Yorker
published an article entitled "The
Big One." Per experts an impending
earthquake in the Northwest will hit
over nine points on the Richter scale.
Soil borings show that approximately
every two hundred and forty years the
"Cascade" fault shifts. Given it's last
rumble was in 1700 - we're long past
due. When it hits, much of Oregon's
and Washington's shoreline may sink
into the ocean. Followed thereafter
by a one hundred foot tsunami...
There are many things we can't control.
Rather than live in fear, why can't we
be stewards of this earth's resources?
Many prefer to live in the here and
now. However our children's children
will be here long after we're gone. Big
business is focused on delivering the
maximum in shareholder value. As
most investors are at least in their
fifties, that means their scope for
guaranteeing R.O.I. is rather limited.
Thus they'll do whatever it takes to
make a buck now - no matter the risk.
Our planet is volatile enough even
without humans screwing with it's
delicate balance. Threatening our
terra firma via fracking seems risky
business at best. When are we going
to realize that going against nature is
never the right approach? What's here
here today, could be gone tomorrow.
Add the threat of natural disasters
and it makes sense to do everything
possible to insure there actually is a
tomorrow. That's what stewardship
is all about. Saving the best for later.
At some point it's all going to catch up
with somebody. And while I doubt any
of us will be here to see it, the result
will be devastating. However there is
hope. Each of us can help the other to
divert disaster by simply doing our part.
Whether that's recycling plastic, taking
the bus, or flipping a switch doesn't
matter. Trying to make a difference
will make the difference. I'm doing my
part in the tiniest (and frankly easiest)
ways possible. Whatever you do, do
something for our future today.