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So I got online this morning to do email and goof off as my roommate sleeps 10 ft away from me. It's 11:25, which means he really should be awake.

Anyway.

I can't remember if I've ever posted anything pertaining to my stance on the environment, so I'll start with that.

I love trees, the forest, and the mountains. I think it's a shame that some people can't grasp the beauty of a sunset, crave the serenity of a forest, the humbling feeling that comes with standing at the top of a craggy 1000 ft cliff. I believe nature was one of God's gifts to his children. Hey, that's us! And I think it's a bummer that we don't put more emphasis on preserving that natural beauty. So, to answer your question, yes, I hug trees. However, I've not about to put a hammock up there with a bullhorn and shout obscenities at anyone that tries to cut me down. I recognize that as a nation, we need lumber. It's a basic material need. Unfortunate, I know, but that's how it is.

So my basic idea is preserve nature as much as you can without hurting anyone. I myself have some work to do to lessen my impact on creation, and I plan for this summer is to drive as LITTLE as possible. This may involve public transportation, riding my bike everywhere, and so on, but it'll make me healthier, and my parents are paying into public transportation anyway, so I may as well use it.

The problem is where to draw the line.

G-Dub (my favorite name for our president,) has put off adopting the Kyoto Protocol because it would effect the United States economy too much (what does that tell you? We've got an economy that depends largely for it's pollution to exist.) This could hurt people's lives a lot. But if this whole global warming thing is legit (I tend to ere on the "we have to be effecting the climate somehow" side, but I'm not at all a climatologist so I won't pretend to know what's going on. Al Gore drives me nuts, too,) it's going to effect their lives a whole lot more long term if the climate change doesn't favor the production of oranges in Florida. Or if the fishing industry tanks (pun intended) because the temperature of the ocean water changes, thus killing more fish, that's going to result in the layoffs of fisherman, the reluctance of big companies to invest in fishing boats, and for the normal family that just likes to eat fish (Mom makes good fish. Fish in the dining hall has to be fake,) it's going to drive prices up, so grocery stores won't sell as much, so they won't stock as much, and SO-ON-AND-SO-FORTH as I fondly remember my Grammie Adent saying.

Or we could just be careful how much gas we use, what we dump into the ocean, how many trees we cut down, and what we release into the air. Make sense?

Ya'll may have heard me say "I'm not a revolutionary. The revolution, if it happens, will happen on it's own." Today, I wanted to make an impact and actually do something for Washington. The mountain containing miles of trails and home to places like the Oyster Dome and the Bat Caves (really COOL rocks!) known as Blanchard Mountain is slated to be logged soon. For some dude in Olympia (or wherever) who has never been up there and seen the San Juans from 2000 ft on a clear sunny day, that may mean nothing but profits, but to me it means the loss and destruction of the natural beauty found there. The plan to to put a network of logging roads throughout the mountain, and it's perfectly legal because it's not a part of nearby Larrabee State Park or a part of the Chuckanut trail system.

However, it's Washington State land, and as a citizen of Washington State I have a right to protest the destruction of these trails. It looks like the logging is gonna happen anyway, but it's worth a shot, right? Someones secretary will read my letter, then toss it into the ol' "circular filing cabinet." Then they'll write some bull-crap letter telling me how much they appreciate my input on this issue, but the logging will continue as planned.

But at least I'll be able to say I did something about it.