Subject: Re: baidarka Tongass Forest sidetrack
From: Samson Family (bill.samson@tesco.net)
Date: Sun Nov 19 2000 - 11:47:08 EST
Hi,
I wonder if we're getting a tad off-topic here? I DO find the discussion
fascinating, but is this the place?
Anyway, while we're at it, I'll have my tuppence worth. "Sustainability"
is, I think we'll all agree, an impossible goal to achieve - certainly as
long as there are humans around. Have you noticed how mass extinctions
follow us everywhere?
Be that as it may, it behoves us all to TRY and make as little impact as we
can - using only renewable resources, if possible. We should avoid
high-tech solutions that involve complex systems that need lots of
intervention to keep them going. For example, as a kayaker I welcomed the
huge sewage scheme that's cleaning up the waters of the Tay estuary, here in
Scotland. Talking the other day to a researcher into 'waste water', he told
me that it wasn't sustainable. It requires contant monitoring and
maintenance into the future. Any economic hard times that last for a
significant period will mean that maintenance will be neglected and the
consequences will be worse than they would have been if we'd left things as
they were. So - sustainable doesn't necessarily equate to 'clean'.
Moving onto topic for a moment, I wonder how sustainable are the synthetic
skins and coatings many of us use on our skin boats? These are, in the
main, based on non-renewable resources. I guess that most of us are with
sustainability in principle, but then most of us drive around in cars which
are drinking the non-renewable resource base at a huge rate. I'm as guilty
of this as anybody. I use cotton canvas and linseed oil based paint for my
baidarka skin, and have been known to adopt a 'holier than thou' attitude to
the nylon and polyurethane brigade, but taking a holistic view of my
lifestyle, I'm guzzling more than my share of the non-renewable stuff.
What's to be done? I wish I knew . . .
Bill
-
Baidarka Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be
reproduced outside Baidarka or Baidarka archives without author's permission
Submissions: baidarka@lists.intelenet.net
Subscriptions: baidarka-request@lists.intelenet.net
Searchable archive: http://rtpnet.org/robroy/baidarka
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b27 : Fri Dec 01 2000 - 01:00:02 EST