Conservation Is a Nice Start

The President just launched an initiative to encourage conservation and preservation of the great outdoors. Well enough, conservation has been a good thing since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. But it's not enough. Conservation is one of those ideas that makes people feel good about what other people are doing for the environment. It makes people want to drive to a park and see the great outdoors. Thus wasting the gas it took to get there while further despoiling the natural landscape. Here are some real conservation things we should be doing: Stop mowing highway medians. Allowing nature to take its course on the thousands of acres we own between the four lanes will reduce our carbon footprint by reducing the energy we waste on mowing and boosting the carbon absorbing plant life we are now cutting down. Make rules about cutting trees, require people who cut down trees to replace them. Insitute tree planting programs that encourage home owners to add trees to their landscape. Stop wilderness parks. Instead encourage people to entertain themselves at home or in city centers that they can access by mass transit. Increase the availability of mass transit. Provide tax encentives to encourage people to move into city centers.