I am not sure where this orginated, but it is an interesting perspective...

> BIRD WATCHING A US $25 BILLION A YEAR INDUSTRY
>
> Bird watching has become a major industry in North America (Canada, the
United
> States and Mexico). It generates cold, hard cash, and lots of it - - US
$25
> billion a year It employs over 60,000 people. It rivals the chemical
industry
> and the steel industry in economic clout. Bird watching is a
non-consumptive
> use of renewable resources. It depends upon the protection of wildlands
and
> wilderness habitat. It thrives and grows on the protection of
biodiversity.
> Yet the economy and employment provided by bird watching is being
threatened
> by traditional economic activity, such as forestry (levelling forests,
> strip-mining, and chemical industries, that destroy bird habitat, pollute
bird
> air and water, and reduce biodiversity.

Unfortunately, there is no Bird Watching Industry Association that has
matched lobbying clout of the Mining
> Associations or the Pulp and Paper Associations. How often do you hear an
> orchestrated complaint from the forest industry that environmentalists are
> threatening logging jobs and threatening economic growth? What you don't
hear
> are the bird watching jobs and others like fisheries jobs are threatened
by
> the clear-cut logging and strip-mining. It is no longer a matter of
forestry,
> mining, oil extraction versus the environment. It is no longer a matter of
> economic engines being stymied by nature-lovers. It is a matter of
economics
> versus economics. Jobs versus jobs. There is big money and huge
job-creation
> in environmentally-friendly jobs such as bird watching. An economic
balance
> must be struck between the two economies. Part of this balance includes
> providing a strong lobby on behalf of bird watching and the environment
> industries that are being threatened by unsustainable development. Part of
> this balance means modifying tax and fiscal measures to level the playing
> field between the competing economies. It also means shifting to a
sustainable
> economic accounting approach by both governments and industry. Visit the
> Audubon Society website at http://www.audubon.org/campaign/ .
>
> ********************************************
>
>> THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
> 506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec H3Y 2R5
> Ph. (514) 369-0230, Fax (514) 369-3282
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> Vol. 5, No. 5, February 6, 2001