If only our own country possessed the foresight to create similar
commercial free environments. As an example of our own lack of an
eco-friendly future: Florida (under the Jeb Bush administration with
the approval of our legislature) is now opening up the St. Joseph Bay
area to commercial development, which will likely damage or destroy a
great deal of what is the largest contiguous area of shallow sea
grass beds in the state. In fact, huge ads in this Sunday's
Tallahassee Democrat boldly announced the availability of choice
bayside properties stretching all along the coast from Mexico Beach
to Carrabelle (which is east of the St. Joe Bay area). Wow! Who wants
to be the first to kill off the sea grass thanks to unchecked
nitrogen runoff from all those new lawns. A veritable fairyland of
bluegreen algae is in our future, choking out all life. Wave goodbye
to the turtles and dolphins and seahorses and Bay scallops (just to
keep this shell-related)!

My wife also reminded that while the U.S. pressured Brazil (and other
south and central American countries) to stop the destruction of the
tropical rain forest, we had a mere 2 to 4% of our own forested lands
preserved (depending on who you believe). We sure set a good example,
don't we?

Do I have a political agenda? You bet! And I'm not ashamed of it
either. I have refused to use any type of chemical fertilizers to
promote the growth of a "front lawn" under the canopy of old growth
oaks and magnolia on my property. In the seven years since we moved
in, the property is quickly reverting to its natural state and that's
the way I intend to keep it. Not surprisingly, there is a shockingly
high rate of cancer among pets who live on property that is regularly
"manicured" (fertilized and sprayed for control of "weeds and natural
grasses") by companies like TruGreen Chemlawn. Geez, just the name
should tell you something is really wrong with that approach!!

Best regards,
Jim

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------