Most people I talk to have never had a course in the ecological sciences
or if they have it was a semester in high school along time ago. With
the lack of Earth science appreciation we’ve become a bankrupt society
disconnected to the fabric of the earth.
The same earth - that when all the components within are properly balanced-
sustains us via clean air and water. The complex interplay between
air, water, plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms dances around
us each and everyday unnoticed, unappreciated and dangerously discarded
as unessential. The problem is that the basic tenets of ecology become
more and more distant to people encapsulated in a man-made world.
This is what I term “the bubble effect.” This expression alludes
to the average American who spends 90% of their daily life in a car,
building or house - in essence, within a bubble. Some might be
quick to remind me that you were outside just the other day on the golf
course, an outdoor concert, or at the municipal field watching their
sons and daughters play ball. These activities are those people
excuse as connected with the great outdoors. It’s ironic to me
that the guy who spends his Saturdays dumping tons of pesticides and
fertilizers on his lawn while planting non-native ornamental species
in front of his house looks you straight in the eye and tells you based
on his manicured masterpiece that he’s a conservationist bonding with
Mother Nature. Is it any wonder that when I talk to people about
blue-spotted salamanders, neotropical song birds and spring peepers
they look at me as if I was a Ferengi from an episode of Star Trek.
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Bog Turtle (Federally Endangered Species) |
It blows my mind that 99% of what I read about the Highlands Water Protection
and Planning Act centers around what effect the new rules will have
on people, humans, bipeds, babies, cousins, brothers and sisters – anthrocentricity
times ten.
Here are a few media snippets to underline this point - the mayor of
Wanaque worrying about lost ratables; the homeowner in Kinnelon upset
he might not get a permit to build his deck; tax relief for south Jersey
towns; the implications to towns outside the Highland core in regards
to increased tax burdens as sprawl gets dumped their way; how does the
transfer of development rights get equitably shared - and on it on it
goes. Please don’t misconstrue, these issues need to be addressed
but I’m getting a little sick and quite frankly tired of our species
clouding the future sustainability of a major ecological system with
the socioeconomic needs of just one. Nowhere in the litany of
reasons given provided by the opposition is the mention of the real
potential losers in the game – all other species and in the not too
distant future – our own.
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| Great Blue Heron |
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Timber Rattlesnake (State Endangered Species) |
Occasionally in the miasma of these human needs you see mentioned as
less than a footnote that the Highlands region is home to 33 threatened
and endangered species. Why is it that no one talks about the
needs of these creatures and more importantly why we need all of the
life forms that call the highlands home? Let me take a stab at
that one. The unique flora and fauna of the region act in the
same way microprocessors behave in your computer, keeping the ecological
hard-drive free from crashes. Think of biodiversity as more RAM
or a faster processor that makes your system run more efficiently.
The more stable populations and types of life forms are, the better
outfitted ecological systems can deal with non-point source pollution,
fragmentation, perturbations from natural disasters, invasive species
and in the end help life’s web with the purification of air and water.
Keeping these systems intact are in the interest of the species themselves
as well as the non-native humans that dwell with them. To warehouse
biologic diversity is like investing in a magical computer that always
keeps on the cutting edge of technology. In respect to the Highlands,
the intact components of flora and fauna will ensure that our future
and theirs have a chance to work efficiently and provide us with the
free services they ultimately provide.
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Poignant Question |
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| Flying Squirrel |
Does our species have the right to squander the natural beauty imparted
to us with the trust from those without voices? Who would deny
the beauty of lynx, flying squirrels or a scarlet tanager frolicking
in the forest canopy? But are these higher profile species any
less important to the Highlands ecological framework than say a long-tailed
salamander or a six-spotted tiger beetle? When do we come to the
realization that all biota has a role to play in “ecosystem services”
indispensable to humanity’s spiritual and economic well being?
Need I remind my fellow Homo sapiens that agricultural productivity,
atmospheric stability, medicines we use in our daily lives, pollution
control, and genetic engineering all owe itself in no small part to
biodiversity. These services should all be underscored with any
discussion from our legislators about how the new rules affect ole Tom,
Dick and Harry.
I will let the famed Stanford University ecologist, Paul R. Ehrlich
summarize my thoughts by quoting a passage from his latest book, The
Population Explosion:
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“Without the necessary biological background, laypeople
are not in a position to understand either the constraints within
which humanity must operate or the origins of those constraints.
They can’t understand why the human population has exploded
or why the exploding human population threatens the very existence
of civilization. They have little awareness of interactions
between themselves and populations of other living beings and
their non-living environment. Today the world is bleeding to
death, yet the average person goes about his or her business
quite oblivious to it.”
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