Re: Fossil Fuels and such ....

Ellen Paul (epaul@dclink.com)
Wed, 20 Jan 1999 06:02:53 -0500 

Dear Darius, 

You have done just as I asked - you gave it some thought.  I respect
your conclusions.  That's all I am asking anyone to do - give it some
thought.  Based on one private message I got, it was apparent that my
message was less than clear, so I'll repeat it here:

When you think about going to see a rarity that has been reported (or
not even a rarity, but simply something that you haven't seen before, or
haven't seen in that particular location), give some consideration to
all the costs of your travel.  These include:  gasoline, tolls,
wear-and-tear on your car,
the-inevitable-crummy-sandwich-at-the-inevitable-crummy-sandwich-shop. 
These also include the "opportunity cost" - whatever else you could (or
should) have been doing with the time.  These also include the external
costs - the use of a nonrenewable resource, additional pollution, and
(in some places), (*&)*&)&()*&)& traffic!

One more time for emphasis:  consider ALL the costs.

That's all I'm asking anyone to do.

I'm not defining birding for anyone.  I'm not judging anyone.  You make
your own decisions, but please consider ALL the costs.

If it appeared from either of my messages that I would draw MY OWN LINE
short (well-short) of driving to Smith Island to see a Downy Woodpecker,
well that's true.  But it isn't a reflection on anyone else's decision.  

Furthermore, everyone who has responded seems to be missing one other
point:  I not only didn't condemn keeping local and state lists, I
started off by saying that these distribution records are important. 
However, once someone has reported species x, does everyone else have to
run over to see it?  How does that add anything to the knowledge of the
distribution of the species?  It doesn't.  In case it was less than
clear, I certainly wasn't saying that Jim and Marshall shouldn't have
gone birding on Smith Island.  What I was saying was that people should
give it some thought before running off to Smith Island to see a Downy
Woodpecker that had already been sighted and reported.  

I don't want to get into arguments about what different people do and
how they do it.  I know some listers who do just tick and move on.  I
know others who don't.  Some observe behavior, some don't.  I know that
lots of people walk whenever possible, but I also know that virtually no
one walks the loop at Bombay Hook, even on the nicest days.  A dozen
cars fire up and drive the couple of hundred meters from one pool to the
other.  

Ellen