Samhain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Thanksgiving Moon<\/p>\n
Any of us who work the legislature and the administration for any purpose have to take the 6.2 billion dollar deficit seriously.\u00a0 It will disrupt state work, occupy legislative time and distract attention from other matters, especially longer term matters like environmental and conservation issues.\u00a0 It could also, in light of its direct cause, the economic crisis and slow return of jobs to our state economy, tilt the scales in favor of jobs based proposals like the Polymet hard-rock, sulfide mine proposed for the edge of the Iron Range.<\/p>\n
In times when the books balance and the state’s economy hums along at full employment decisions with long term consequences are still hard to make.\u00a0 It would be easy, then, in hard times, to simply duck the issues of logging off our state and national forests, their resiliency in light of climate change and the damage to them wrought by invasive species and powered vehicles.\u00a0 It would be easy, then, in hard times, to put off financial investments in mass transit.\u00a0 Why spend money when we already have roads and buses?\u00a0 It would be easy, then, in hard times, to put off more ambitious clean energy goals, continuing to pump electricity out of toxic emitters like coal plants, balking at ground floor investments needed in wind and solar energy.<\/p>\n
It would be easy, but it would not be wise.\u00a0 We have learned already, the hard way, that mountain tops once removed, will no longer rise toward the sky.\u00a0 We have learned, the hard way, that sulfide mining produces heavy metal and sulfuric acid waste that lasts not years, not decades, but centuries, outlasting the companies that produced it, the jobs created and the governments that allowed it.\u00a0 We have learned, the hard way, that generating energy with dirty fuels like coal, gasoline and nuclear fission has consequences, world changing, life shattering, additive changes.<\/p>\n
This means that especially now we must be vigilant, careful, thinking about the seventh generation when we make our decisions.\u00a0 Will the seventh generation of Iron Rangers be better off with hard-rock sulfide mines spread along the Range?\u00a0 Will my seventh generation, my grandchildren of the distant future, find a boreal forest in Minnesota? Will there still be unpaved portions of the metro area?\u00a0 Areas saved by the development of rail, bicycle and pedestrian pathways?<\/p>\n
Hard times, hard as they are, come and go.\u00a0 The clean waters we love, the dense forests through which we hike, the fresh air we breathe can all be imperiled by decisions made with long term benefits lost, traded for short term gain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Samhain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Waning Thanksgiving Moon Any of us who work the legislature and the administration for any purpose have to take the 6.2 billion dollar deficit seriously.\u00a0 It will disrupt state work, occupy legislative time and distract attention from other matters, especially longer term matters like environmental and conservation issues.\u00a0 It could also, in light of … Continue reading The Seventh Generation<\/span>