Originally Posted by
Cuppa
I’m sorry BillsGU, but I just don’t get it. How is opening up the ’saved bits’ of our country a great leap forward. Most if not all here like to get out into the bush, it’s the reason most have a 4wd, but is geting out into the bush about enjoying the bush for what it is, or just to ‘conquer’ rough tracks & feel like a ‘hero'?
A simple question, would it be as enjoyable if those tracks were lined with concrete buildings rather than ‘bush’? I think most of us would answer “no”. Ok we aren’t taking about loggers replacing trees with concrete buildings, but the point I’m making is that there is something unique & valuable about our bush & I doubt that most would want to lose it.
If we can agree that we don’t want to lose what we love, then we have to value & protect it from those who wish to profit without care or conscience.
The arguments are not about whether we care about losing what we love, but about how much we can afford to lose & without changing our behaviours. Suggesting that allowing logging to take place because it might open up some 4wd tracks is like removing most of the food from the shelves of our shops & saying it’s a good thing to do because t will make the aisles wider. Wide aisles might seem very attractive, but who will care once we are hungry?
Australia is very special, even though we have lost huge tracts of bush over the past couple of centuries we still have extensive areas of bush left. It’s not like other parts of the world like the UK & much of Europe where the little bits of remaining woodland fit neatly between the man made. I recall the first time I stood up on an Australian bluff & could see nothing but trees for as far as I could see. It blew me away, I had never had that experience before. If we take that for granted believing we have plenty to spare, Tony & his corporate plunderer mates will do something about that. The National parks are the Jewels in the Australian crown & we should all fight to keep them. Robo’s last post made me think when he wrote "The trees cleared to replace with the ones they want Is killing off countless native species flora & fauna.
Species that have taken thousands if not millions of yrs to develop and entitled to life just as we are.
Not much diversity left only what they want to harvest. gee that’s got to be nice on the eye.” It seems reminiscent of the ’supermarket culture’. Just to take one example. Apples. I recall as a child that there were numerous varieties of apple, some good for cooking, some just for eating, all with their own unique flavour or texture. I just 40 or so years most are no longer generally available except to those who really care to grow their own ‘heritage’ varieties. Our kids might be forgiven for believing there have only ever been a handful of varieties, the ones that can be found in the supermarkets, Granniy Smith, Royal Gala & one or two more. Translate this to the rapidly reducing diversity in our forests, extinction after extinction. Animals, plants & trees. Dunno about you but when I get out in the bush on those tracks it’s what those tracks take me through that make it worthwhile, & if having tracks closed as a means of preserving that diversity I can live with that.
Anyway if the loggers get into a park, existing tracks will be closed until logging is completed & IF opened afterwards the sights will not be pretty.
I’m not specifically aiming at you BillsGU, but the common call amongst 4wd’ers to ‘open tracks’ is imho often a selfish means of shooting themselves in the foot. Lets look after country first & enjoy it second. The alternative is to destroy what we love without understanding what we are doing.
Bit of a ramble, but I hope it makes some sense to someone.
Cuppa
Reply With Quote