In a message dated 02/27/2000 11:25:13 AM Pacific Standard Time,
chelimer at earthlink.net writes:

<< As a "Mainland birder" I resent being characterized as thoughtless, greedy,
and doing nothing for the welfare of wildlife, whether it be in Hawaii or
anywhere else. Perhaps the author ought to stick to writing about that
which bears some resemblance to fact. >>

Dave, I don't think Gene was attacking you personally, I don't think he was
attacking ANYBODY. You must admit that there are folks out there who think
nothing of driving a couple hundred miles to bag a lifer, and after observing
it for fifteen minutes, turn and drive home..without any understanding of it
other than that it's a lifer. Folks like that are so bad that, if they see
the same species a couple of years from now, they have to check their list to
see if they've seen it before! They don't recognize it!!

Gene's got a lot of years of hands on birding......he's probably BANDED more
species than I will ever have on my life list. He is one of the few..and you
are, too, who knows what the wild used to be like. Not like me, or the young
ones behind me, who see only what's left after DDT, massive urbanization,
massive development, destruction of the environment, invasion by non
indigenous species, etc, etc etc.
I wonder what life was like before starlings and English sparrows.

I believe what he's driving at is something we humans are all guilty of, just
by existing...we're breeding like crazy (not personally, mind you, I'm
childless by choice), exploiting the environment and will soon be in a deep
bucket of doodoo, environmentally speaking. For us birders who attempt to
make a difference, no matter how small, we are overwhelmed by a hundred
people who couldn't tell an eagle from an auklet and furthermore, don't give
a rat's ass if either one of them goes extinct.
This is merely a personal gripe, but if you want to see how the "other half"
thinks, read Tom Clancy's newest book "Rainbow Six". If he isn't preaching
blatant anti-environmentalist propaganda, I don't know what he's doing. He
paints environmentalists as genocidal bunny huggers who would destroy the
world..
(He's also inaccurate...Clancy refers to a mink as a "tubular rodent", and
he hasn't a clue what differentiates horse breeds.).
What concerns me is that Clancy normally writes what's in the headlines, and
so I take it to mean that the tone of his book is same as what the majority
of people are thinking. And that is, screw the environment, I'm gonna make
some money.
I used to like Tom Clancy, but after reading "Rainbow Six" I think I will let
his next book sit on the shelf unread.

Michelle Blanchard
MBlanchrd at aol.com
Oly, WA