July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Perspective key on environment (03/27/2009)
Editorial
In any discussion of environmental issues like concentrated animal feeding operations, it's important to keep in mind not only where we'd like to be but where we've come from.
It's a fact of human nature that we tend to notice setbacks and threats more than progress.
But while it makes sense to be concerned, perhaps even alarmed, about the threat potentially posed to the Wabash River watershed by a proposed enormous dairy CAFO, it also makes sense to keep that concern in perspective.
It was not so very long ago, for instance, that Jay County didn't have zoning at all.
One may argue today that the rules aren't as restrictive as some would like them, but the fact is there used to be no rules at all.
Environmentalism is, after all, only about 40 to 45 years old.
Many things we take for granted today are tangible signs of enormous progress.
It was not so very long ago that the notion of a "sanitary landfill" was considered to be cutting edge thinking. For generations, folks had tossed things in an unregulated city dump or pitched them in a gulley on the back 40.
It was not so very long ago that combined sewer overflows were commonplace in every town in Jay County that actually had sewers.
In the big floods of 1957 and 1959, much of Portland's west side was one big CSO. And kids swam in it.
Today, the very mention of a CSO provokes a headache for mayors and council members.
It was not so very long ago that most folks got rid of their trash by burning it in an old drum in the back yard. Recycling was an exotic notion.
It was not so very long ago that the county's notion of dust control was to spray oil on stone roads with no thought of where the runoff might go.
The list could go on and on.
The point is not to minimize in any way the concerns raised recently about a proposed dairy CAFO or whether the county has reached a CAFO saturation point.
Instead, it's just this: We have come a long way.
There's a long way to go.
But it's important to hang onto one's perspective. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
It's a fact of human nature that we tend to notice setbacks and threats more than progress.
But while it makes sense to be concerned, perhaps even alarmed, about the threat potentially posed to the Wabash River watershed by a proposed enormous dairy CAFO, it also makes sense to keep that concern in perspective.
It was not so very long ago, for instance, that Jay County didn't have zoning at all.
One may argue today that the rules aren't as restrictive as some would like them, but the fact is there used to be no rules at all.
Environmentalism is, after all, only about 40 to 45 years old.
Many things we take for granted today are tangible signs of enormous progress.
It was not so very long ago that the notion of a "sanitary landfill" was considered to be cutting edge thinking. For generations, folks had tossed things in an unregulated city dump or pitched them in a gulley on the back 40.
It was not so very long ago that combined sewer overflows were commonplace in every town in Jay County that actually had sewers.
In the big floods of 1957 and 1959, much of Portland's west side was one big CSO. And kids swam in it.
Today, the very mention of a CSO provokes a headache for mayors and council members.
It was not so very long ago that most folks got rid of their trash by burning it in an old drum in the back yard. Recycling was an exotic notion.
It was not so very long ago that the county's notion of dust control was to spray oil on stone roads with no thought of where the runoff might go.
The list could go on and on.
The point is not to minimize in any way the concerns raised recently about a proposed dairy CAFO or whether the county has reached a CAFO saturation point.
Instead, it's just this: We have come a long way.
There's a long way to go.
But it's important to hang onto one's perspective. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD