"Do what you can, with what you have, where you
are." Teddy Roosevelt
I grew up fishing, hunting and spending most of my
time in the outdoors. I was raised to love and respect nature. I’ve never
hunted just for trophies and I practice catch and release, unless I am bringing
home dinner. If I don’t catch anything or if I’m not bringing home meat from
the field, then it’s still a good day because I was one with the amazing
creation of nature.
With all the news of The Green New Deal and the
prediction that the world will end in twelve years, if we don’t control climate
change, is it a realistic goal to do what the politicians suggest? Is it
realistic to kill all the cows? I thought causing the extinction of a species
is what these same people are against. Is it realistic to refit every building
in The United States, do away with all air travel, nuclear energy and
combustion engines? Including your car,
truck, boat, Harley and John Deere tractor. That’s a tall order for sure.
All I know is that there are millions of people like
me who are the real conservationist. Conservationism was bred into us from the
time we first walked into a field with our dads or held a fishing rod. We pack
out what we pack in and if we see that someone left something behind then we
bring that out too. Men and women who enjoy the outdoor sports, follow the laws
concerning bag and size limits along with all the other laws that govern our
pastime.
Sportsmen pay for conservation with the hunting and
fishing licenses that are purchased. These fees help to protect the wildlife,
woods, wetlands and oceans we love. In Montana alone duck stamps bring in 185
million dollars a year www.hunter-ed.com
and that doesn’t include all the taxes we spend on sporting equipment. I don’t
know of anyone that wants dirty air and water or trash thrown all over their
home, do you? The outdoors is where sportsmen feel at home. At one with nature.
I live in South West Florida and last summer we dealt with the worst red tide
in decades. It killed fish, dolphin, manatees and everything else in the water.
Not only that, it also emptied our skies. The eagles, osprey, pelicans and even
the seagulls were gone. Clean water is important to us all. The damage was done
a hundred years ago when the politicians decided to drain the Everglades and
turn it into farm land. It cannot be fixed.
In 2008 Al Gore told a German audience that the polar
ice cap would be depleted by 2013 www.naturalnews.com
but as of September 8, 2013 Douglas Cobb wrote in an article that the polar ice
is 60% larger that it was in 2008. www.gaurdinlv.com
In an interview on February 13, 2010, Professor Phil Jones, the director of
climatic research unit at the University of East Anglai (UEA) stated that
“warming rates from 1910-1940 and 1975-1998 are not significantly different.”
Professor Jones also stated, “that there has been no significant global warming
since 1995.” www.judiciaryreport.com I believe that the politicians on both sides
of the aisle are more concerned about keeping their jobs, power and private
jets, than they are of protecting the environment. Yes, they will still have
their planes after they stop all commercial air traffic.
If we as sportsmen do our part, then that’s all anyone
can truly expect. The climate has been changing since the world was created.
The earth warms and cools, the tides rise and fall and there is more ice at the
poles than before. Be a good steward of your local environment because if we
all do this the earth will survive long past the twelve-year doom expected by
some in power.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you
are." Teddy
Roosevelt
