From brianczech@juno.com Sun Dec 5 18:02:19 2004 Received: from mxe1.u.washington.edu (mxe1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.136]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.13.1+UW04.08/8.13.1+UW04.08) with ESMTP id iB622JvW092784 for ; Sun, 5 Dec 2004 18:02:19 -0800 Received: from outbound-mail.nyc.untd.com (outbound-mail.nyc.untd.com [64.136.20.164]) by mxe1.u.washington.edu (8.13.1+UW04.08/8.13.1+UW04.09) with SMTP id iB6229DY032313 for ; Sun, 5 Dec 2004 18:02:18 -0800 Received: from outbound21-sr.nyc.untd.com (webmail26.nyc.untd.com [10.141.27.166]) by smtpout03.nyc.untd.com with SMTP id AABA5HRNRAY3ZSBS for (sender ); Sun, 5 Dec 2004 18:01:51 -0800 (PST) X-UNTD-OriginStamp: 8HoE4FrEOK8USZFmyhyUVcXANgNa81kVdR/Ftt4McuoZvXnDLXIUbg== Received: (from brianczech@juno.com) by webmail26.nyc.untd.com (jqueuemail) id KD5QT3JS; Sun, 05 Dec 2004 18:01:43 PST Received: from [64.136.26.225] by webmail26.nyc.untd.com with HTTP: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 02:01:06 GMT X-Originating-IP: [64.136.26.225] Mime-Version: 1.0 From: "brianczech@juno.com" Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2004 02:01:06 GMT To: TWS-L@LISTSERV.VT.EDU Cc: consbio@u.washington.edu, ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Making point with sage grouse; template letter to ed FYC X-Mailer: WebMail Version 2.0 Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <20041205.180143.1427.70486@webmail26.nyc.untd.com> X-ContentStamp: 2:2:1187336909 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CT 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __HAS_X_MAILER 0, __JUNO_FROM 0, __JUNO_FROM_VALID 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0' In the coming weeks, months, and maybe years, the greater sage grouse will be in the news, and probably on the front pages now and then. The grouse is proposed for ESA listing and had prominent coverage on page 3 of Friday’s USA Today, for example. It’s another sad chapter in the recent history of wildlife conservation, but it is yet another chance to educate the public and policy makers about the fundamental conflict between economic growth and wildlife conservation. It may become the biggest chance since the spotted owl, which instead was used by the last administration (via the Northwest Forest Plan) to mislead: "Some people just don’t’ get it... there is no conflict between economic growth and environmental protection!" The Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE) offers template letters to editors for purposes of educating readers on the conflict. The newest template is based on the sage grouse story and is provided below for your convenience. It will also be posted at the Action page of the CASSE website soon, wherefrom it may be downloaded and used as opportunities arise. You will surely see articles on the sage grouse. The template will fit as a response for almost all of them and it will surely be published in a variety of forms and forums, so if you always wanted to write a letter (or another one) to an editor, here's an easy and worthwhile chance. Just fill in the most appropriate official’s name, edit a bit, and replace the CASSE line with your signature... Dear Editor, No political figure wants to be seen as anti-growth or anti-wildlife, and ever since he/she was appointed/hired, Appointee Doe has been telling us there is no conflict between economic growth and wildlife conservation. Yet as Newspaper X revealed in “(Applicable Article About Sage Grouse)” (Date, Page), nothing could be more fundamentally false. Conservation compromises from the Florida coastline to the Alaskan tundra might go with the turf at Agency/Department Name, but snowballing taxpayers into thinking it has nothing to do with economic growth is unethical at best, and ultimately dangerous. The sage grouse joins the Florida panther, spotted owl, and other canaries in the coalmine, warning us that the production and consumption of goods and services is getting too high. Species by species, ecosystems are unraveling in the face of the agricultural, extractive, and manufacturing sectors that make up our economy. It is time for us and our policy makers to wake up and soberly acknowledge the conflict between economic growth and the environment, including wildlife conservation. Only then can we wrestle with achieving the proper balance. Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy Arlington, VA, USA www.steadystate.org .