James Murray’s lament for the end to fishing at McGuire Lake offers little or no justification for this so-called sport. He provides even less justification for encouraging (educating?) children to adopt such a disrespectful and disruptive recreational use of nature. His main rationale seems to be that he’s done it for his entire life. (“When I was a kid, fishing was fun – plain simple fun,” Market News, June 29).
Perhaps it was (fun) for James, but most of us have come to realize that what we’ve always done is not necessarily appropriate forever.
Alas! However much we may yearn for ‘the good old days,’ the world changes, it’s no longer some unspoiled Earth, and, as Einstein stated: “In order to solve problems, we must see the world anew, and not from the consciousness and perspective that produced the problems in the first place.”
We have also come to realize that treating nature as nothing more than entertainment (fun) – whatever the impact on wildlife – is an ethically indefensible position. James and others, at least, have not supplied one, beyond the dubious, ‘this is just what we do,’ position.
So, the frightening environmental realities of this, the 21st century, cry out for us to re-examine what we’ve always done, and revise our relationship to nature accordingly.
Surely this means encouraging and practising nature protection and preservation ethics, not nature depletion and nature disrespect – in short, understanding ecological systems and creating as little disturbance as possible – in our recreation, and all other nature-related activities..
Tom Crowley
