7 Oct 98

Letter to the Editor (USA Today)

                It appears that Man is the victim yet again in another environmental horror story.  In this latest episode, taxpayers may have to pay for a $7.8 billion proposal to restore the Everglades.

                Besides the dollar amount, highways and manmade trails will be altered, canals will be filled, and levees flattened.

                For what purpose?  We are told of "ecological danger," that the Everglades are "critically ill," and that wildlife is "threatened or endangered."  Furthermore, we are told that these are conditions that must be remedied.

                Why? Obviously not for any benefit that Man might derive.  The environmentalists consistently decry Man as the villain.  It is Man's "flood control system of dikes and canals" that has disrupted the natural "sheetflow" of water.  It is "farming and urban development" that has destroyed half of this wilderness.

                In other words, it is because Man chooses to survive by adapting his environment to suit his needs.  Our crime is that we exist and choose to live.

                The environmentalists would like us to believe that it is our interests that they have in mind, but it is always our life enhancing technology and progress that they condemn and attempt to destroy.

                For example, they mention the idea that this project would help provide water for "thirsty communities" in southern Florida, yet they forget to mention that these communities are "thirsty" because the Everglades are protected by the EPA from further development.

                Now they ask that Man sacrifice, not for any benefit he might receive, but for nature--a pristine nature untouched by Man and therefore of no possible value to him.

                Everyone should write their Congressman and ask that he vote against this project and save us from the man-hating environmentalists.

Eric J. Lakits