Checkerspots and Paul Cherubini

anne kilmer viceroy at anu.ie
Sun Jun 11 02:02:30 EDT 2000



Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer wrote:
> 
> It is irrelevant if is a huge population of the checkerspot in Mexico.
> Endangered species ranks are set at a national and state level in the USA. A
> species/subspecies can easily be endangered IN THE USA (or Canada, where I
> am from), and still be common elsewhere.
> 
snip
Of course you are right. 
But, while this is true, it was still neither necessary not appropriate
for anyone to castigate Paul for his position. 
There is room on Leps-L for every opinion, and if we limit participants
to "People who Agree with Me," discussion will cease to be interesting
or useful. 
Paul and Neil will change their opinions when the Ethiopian changes his
skin and the leopard his spots. Predictable they may be, but they add
balance, and both have knowledge which is useful, despite their bias. 
What we don't have room for here is personal attacks. Here, despite my
sad lack of a PhD, I agree with Martha.
Complaining about Paul's character and presentation is like complaining
that fire is hot and ginger is spicy. As Chuck points out, and as Linus
pointed out, years before him, these are not faults; these are character
traits. 
When Paul assures us that some pesticide or weed-killer is safe as soup,
I wait to hear from the scientists on the list. And I chase it down on
the Web, thumbing through miles of hysteria and froth to find people who
might actually know something, before I make my decision or my
recommendation. 
Environmentalist though I be, I question authorities ... a lot. This is
not the same as questioning authority, of course. But I do that, too. 
This list is a great place to do that. Usually we all rub along pretty
well, with occasional lapses. 
Usually, also, we remember that we are disagreeing with the idea, not
the man. "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion
still."
I agree with Chuck that many "environmentalists" are against change. Not
me. Natural succession is a lovely thing, and unless you know where the
lake was going before we so rudely interrupted it, you sure can't fix
it. 
Prairies become forests; lakes become meadows; mountains are laid low,
and we're all gonna die. 
Nor is it a good idea to live as the noble savage did. He (all over the
world) dumped his shit, garbage and broken crockery outside his front
door, and when the babies started dying he moved on. 
One hopes that the Better-Living-through-Chemistry folks are thinking
about groundwater and the fishes in the sea. One hopes that the antis
are thinking about world hunger. And we swap our notions amicably. 
Me,  I put up with nettles to accommodate the butterflies, spend my
strength to preserve biodiversity, and pray for rain in Florida. But not
a hurricane, please.
Cheers
Anne Kilmer
Mayo, Ireland
and South Florida


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