db: No Earth, no earthlings

“I see trees of green…”

Dateline: B.A.S.S. 2016 Conservation Summit

“Thank God men cannot fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.”
Henry David Thoreau

I have no credible right to say anything about conservation.

I am not a scientist.

I am not an environmentalist.

My only right to say something about conservation comes down to just one simple fact.

I LIVE HERE.

Live here, as do you.

Live here on the only blue rock in space.

Live here, where blooms, the miracle of life.

“…red roses too…”

“I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

Neil Armstrong

This Earth you see now from space, is basically a new Earth, it took this rock 4.3 BILLION years to get this beautiful.

To get to where WE could live on it.

Big numbers huh, hard to comprehend, break it down, we, me and you and all those like us going back to the first us, we’ve been here, give or take, 5-8 million years.

Not the bunch of residency you may think, in fact we’ve only been here 0.004 percent of Earth time.

Pretend for a moment that Earth has only been floating around in the dark for 24 hours, okay, so if that’s the case in those 24 hours of time, humans take up…ONE SECOND OF IT.

Dinosaurs, yeah dinosaurs were on this plant more than 10 times the amount we have been here.

Earth, statistically, is still a dinosaur planet.

In 60 million years and one day, it’s a human planet.

“…I see them bloom…”

I don’t hug trees, in fact I’m allergic to sap and tree mold.

To be honest I’m on the fence with global warming, the main reason is I don’t believe ANYTHING the government tells me, I do also know that for most of the life of Earth it was molten lava.

We start to get to molten lava global warming, I’ll listen.

The more groups shout about something, the less I listen.

So please, this is not so much a column, as a do me a favor, take time to hear what the 2016 Conservation Summit at the Bassmaster Classic is all about.

I’ll sum it up for you: No fish, No fishing.

“…for me and for you…”

“To enjoy the sport of bass fishing, you need bass to fish for.”
Gene Gilliland
B.A.S.S. Conservation Director

This weekend at the Classic shindig here 32 state conservation directors and just as many state wildlife biologists and fishery folk are coming together for their semi-annual conservation gig.

And all those folks coming from all over America and Canada are coming here with one thing in mind, doing what it takes to help the fish on this planet.

“Conservation incorporates a whole bunch of fish related issues like access, invasive species, angler ethics and habitat enhancement.”  Gene Gilliland.

More stuff as well but it was a 6:30 a.m. interview and I wrote down as much as I could considering last night.

I know many of these people, respect many of them, but the problem is, when they use the words of the conservation industry, the environmental industry, frankly they freak me out, and I’m sure you as well.

But on the other hand, I’m not completely stupid, I know that if I want to eat ice cream, I don’t leave the freezer door open.

“…and I think to myself…”

I think personally, with not an ounce of data to back it up ‘cept for gut feelings and being around lots and lots of lakes, I think we do a pretty good job of taking care of things.

I think those in the conservation biz, need to promote the conservation biz as much as any other biz, I get that and normally wouldn’t be up this early writing this stuff except for one thing…fishing isn’t ours to mess up.

You may be some big arse angler, some big arse fishing business big shot, but you know what…those aren’t your fish, not your water.

We’re screwing up the water of our children, of our grandchildren and I don’t care who you are, we have no right to do that.

My grandfather didn’t take me fishing so that a few decades later I could mess fishing up, he took me there to pass on the gift to me that his father gave to him.

This ain’t about conservation.

This ain’t about the environment.

It’s about passing forward the gift that was passed to us.

Do you want to be the bozo that messes that up, I don’t.

Hey, so when that stupid 2 minute long TV commercial with some semi-washed up movie star comes on hawking how 17-cents a day can save the planet, TURN IT OFF and go outside and do something to save the pond you will bring your child to, your grandchild.

The most valuable thing in the entire universe, is the blue stuff all around us.

We spend billions of dollars launching stuff into space to look for it, to look for the miracle of life.

Spend some time helping the blue near you.

Some cool stuff will be coming out of this Summit; none of it will hurt you.

You can follow the doings right here: www.Bassmaster.com/conservation

We may not have all the answers, may in fact not even have all the questions, but the one thing we do have is…Earth.

Look at it as the person who created it sees it.

Look at it as the simmering jewel in the black of space.

Look at it as what it really is, Heaven on Earth.

Save it.

“…what a wonderful world.”
What A Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong

db

“There are no passengers on space ship Earth, we are all crew”
Marshal McLuhan