LETTER from SCOTT DUNCAN

To Preserve Our Earth,

Live By Nature’s Rules

To the Editor:

So the fracking industry comes into town and uses a lot of clean water that then becomes unusable, tears up and down the roads with trucks, and drills for the gas. Then pipes it out of the county and sells it to? … and this will benefit the poor people, how?

Poor people don’t always own the land. Mike Zagata’s description of fracking left out a number of critical elements. One of which is the use of water.

Living around here it may be hard to believe that water is a finite element. It is more precious than gold. It is past time to start finding solutions to using less water and using it more intelligently.

That is another problem with fracking. It is not just the process, it’s the mindset. Take, take, take. If we do not start thinking in terms of the cycles of nature and remain focused on the illusion that we can just keep taking from nature to transform elements into our own fantasies and uses, we are going to end up starving on a dry wasteland.

At the beginning of industrialization, industrialists’ goals were to drive people out of the rural areas, away from farming into cities, in order to have workers for their factories. Then the corporations pushed for big farms in order to create monopolies so they could increase profits.

They totally ignored the cycles of nature. This took away the sense of independence and self-sufficiency from many people. The variety of foods that we used to consume was greatly reduced. This is part of the cause of our problems with poverty and poor foods that are lacking the nutritional elements and varieties of foods that keep us healthy and intelligent.

It is an outdated concept that businesses and corporations are our salvation. That is not to say that some of it is not good. But we need to find a better balance between industrialization and the agrarian life style.

Instead of thinking about more money to solve problems, think about what is essential in sustaining life and build on that. More money is not an answer. Creativity and ingenuity are needed.

We have some incredible resources in this area; if we learn to preserve them and enrich them, we will do away with poverty. If we look around here for solutions and not out there, we will have a better long-term gain.

The earth is a living organism that can supply humanity forever, but if we keep ignoring the rules of nature, we will be destroyed along with all the other species we have already destroyed.

R. SCOTT DUNCAN
Hartwick Forrest