LET TERS
TOO MANY PEOPLE
The root cause of current climate
change must be addressed: human over-
population in a world with finite resources.
Too many people equals a large appe-
tite for energy, fresh water and arable land.
In 1900, the world population was 1.5 bil-
lion. By 1965, it was 3.3 billion. Only 52
years later, 7 billion!
In 1983, we passed the tipping point
of using more resources than the earth
could regenerate, known as “ecological
overshoot.” The solution? All methods of
contraception should be available to every
person on earth of childbearing age for free
or at an affordable price, including surgical
methods of voluntary tubal ligation, vasec-
tomy and abortion. Abstinence is ineffec-
tive.
If we don’t curb our reproduction, hu-
man beings will face continued loss of
habitat and extinction of our species. Wars
over resources, political upheaval, income
inequality, pandemics of new diseases,
crop failures resulting in famines and ani-
mal extinction are only symptoms.
Instead of treating symptoms, treat the
root cause. Developed nations have the
VIEWPOINT
technical wherewithal to address this issue
and also to assist emerging nations. Edu-
cation goes up. Empowerment goes up.
Population goes down.
All we lack is the ethical political will
unhindered by corruption and religious fa-
naticism. I’m not optimistic.
Charlotte Brandt
Eugene
NEWMAN FOR SCHOOL
BOARD
As a retired superintendent, I know
the importance of having highly qualified
school-board members. Eugene School
Board will find no one better than Judy
Newman. She is a voice for social justice,
fighting for equity and educational fund-
ing. She has a proven track record of lever-
aging resources through advocacy, partner-
ships and grant writing.
Judy is an innovator. She was among
the first to recognize that early childhood
education is the key to individual student
success. She developed an innovative
and highly regarded model for supporting
special needs children and their families.
Recognized in the county, state, nation and
world, she is sought after as an advisor,
mentor and creative thinker.
Judy works tirelessly to meet the needs
of others. She has served on the boards of
Shelter Care, Lane County United Way
and numerous state-level working groups.
Judy is a strong student advocate. She
has consistently demonstrated exemplary
leadership, strong values and an unwaver-
ing commitment to providing a high-quali-
ty education for every student.
Students in the 4J district deserve an
excellent education and Judy Newman has
the knowledge and expertise to make that
happen. I enthusiastically endorse her for
Eugene School District Board Position 3.
Nancy Golden
Springfield
FAKE LETTERS
Fake news has infected even letters to
the editor.
Who are these idiots hissing and
snarling in their echo chambers of vapid-
ity? Have they been vetted? We need to
know from whom the memes flow. Who
taught them to talk? What educational an-
cestry (if any) they claim.
Otherwise we might fall prey to their
seductive la-de-da and their lucid muse so
amusing. Our hearts will be broken, our
spirits riled. Beguiled by fake letters to the
editor.
David Hugh Tyson
Eugene
GOD HELP US
A congressional hearing as a result of
a POTUS tweet based on a Fox “News”
report.
Frank Schnebly
Eugene
SCHOOL OF GREED
University of Oregon administra-
tors have leaned a ladder against the tree
of knowledge, climbed a few rungs and
identified non-tenured professors, poor
and hungry students and disabled persons
without a leg to stand on as low-hanging
fruit, slim but easy pickings as they teeter
towards balancing an out-of-whack operat-
ing budget.
High-hanging and much riper fruit like
senior-administration compensation, tail-
wagging-dog athletics spending and edi-
BY DA N PENNINGTON
An Indispensable Forest
SAVING THE ELLIOTT AND ALL ITS VALUES
H
ow do we assign value to a forest? Is it in board feet of timber? Is
it in habitat for ravens, bald eagles, osprey, northern spotted owls,
marbled murrelets, belted kingfishers, juncos and chickadees? Is it
in chanterelles, thimbleberries, fiddleheads and stinging nettle?
Is it in its ability to sequester hundreds of millions of tons of
carbon dioxide each year? Is it in its water storage, buffering and filtration? Is it in
an old-growth fir who has fallen on her side, transforming into a nursery for young
and vibrant hemlocks to sprout from her decomposing body, teaching us a universal
rule that rebirth follows death? Is it in soil building and nutrient accumulation?
Is it in whispering secrets of an elegant universe by providing the window into a
microcosm of a perfect system? Is it in preservation, so that our children can experi-
ence the revelation that life is brilliant and complex?
Taken from several perspectives, the forest may in fact be priceless.
In the mid-19th century, Oregon forests underwent a change as the values of the
white settlers misaligned with the natural value of this particular landscape. For the
native peoples, the preservation of salmon runs and sustainable forest stewardship
was intrinsic; something they had been eased into over thousands of years of hunt-
ing and gathering. They were a functioning part of the forest whole.
Eventually, native tribes were pried away from their home forests concurrent
with the forest being eroded from their lives. A once priceless segment of one
group’s identity underwent a valuation by another set of people, and it became
clear: In order to turn trees and salmon into money, the settlers needed to strip the
human identity from the forest.
Dollar signs, instead of the forest itself, became the new standard bearer of
value. The bountiful embrace the forest bestowed upon all its symbiotic inhabit-
ants was disregarded in favor of mass-capitalization by a new tenant, hopelessly
unaware of their (self-)destructive nature. The natives were conned into giving up
their land-base and food source. They received last chance at the salmon runs after
the commercial fisheries and white settlers took their share.
All along the Coast Range, away from their tribal bases of knowledge and iden-
tity, the First Nations people who had survived disease and violent attacks were cor-
ralled into the Siletz and Grand Ronde reservations where language, tradition and a
life of sustainability degenerated into the acquiescence to another man’s paradigm.
4
March 30, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com
And as the new white settlers looked down upon their native counterparts as
some primitive culture, they also looked down upon the forest, and all its compo-
nents, as their God-given dominion.
This story starts to rhyme with other tales where man’s greed, ignorance and ap-
athy turned lush growing regions into deserts, thereby thrusting future generations
into hardship and calamity. Following the thread of this exploitative stewardship
to today, most of the forests have been converted into tree farms, leaving behind a
smattering of original growth forests squeezed between the scars of human activity.
Salmon runs are sparse and need significant human intervention to simply main-
tain their numbers. Just as salmon are a keystone species for forest health, so the
forest is a keystone organism for societal and planetary health. As goes the forest,
so goes humanity.
So where do we go from here? First, we must broaden our definition of value to
include more than just monetary value.
Cultural value, environmental value, habitat value, educational value, suste-
nance value and tourism value are all factors that get lost when our minds are hyper-
focused on revenue. We must find a balance in how we take and how much we take.
Wood products have a place in society, but cutting 35-year-old trees, pulping
them and sending the pulp to China — only to have paper products returned to fill
shelves at OfficeMax — is wholly unnecessary and a product of scraping the bottom
of the barrel in order to squeeze every cent out of a diminishing resource.
We must find wisdom in how the original people of this land revered the forest
and integrate that process into a new model of thought. We must reconnect and
empathize with the forest and treat her with great respect, no longer apathetic to
the gashes inflicted on her body. We must visit her, and thank her, and revel in her.
I support Gov. Kate Brown’s plan to buy out the Common School Fund from the
Elliott State Forest using bond money. I support the governor’s plan to responsibly
log parts of the forest. And I support her plan for public and tribal ownership.
I urge environmental leaders to proactively reach out to tribal leaders and seek
an alliance born out of preservation, common ground and retribution. And I urge
Treasurer Tobias Read to listen to his constituents. Save the Elliott State Forest!
Dan Pennington is a small-scale farmer and B&B host at Myrtle Glen Farm, located in the Coast Range forest
of Coos County.