A piece of Alaskan paradise is at risk. Here's why we must save it

[Judi Lynn]

Kim Heacox
The Tongass national forest is America’s premier temperate rainforest, but Sonny Perdue wants it open for business

Tue 31 Jul 2018 03.57 EDT

Over the years, I’ve walked many visitors into the Tongass national forest in Alaska, and watched the city tinsel drop from their eyes. They often sit quietly and look around, and for the first time in a long time breathe from the bottom of their lungs.

. . .

I live here, in this land made of water, where green is not just a color, it’s a texture. Where salmon run and bears roam, and whales swim into my dreams. Where my neighbors and I build our homes from wood selectively cut and locally milled. Where we pick berries and hunt deer, and remember the slaughter, back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, when US taxpayers heavily subsidized large-scale clearcut logging.

The trees often became pulp, which in turn became rayon and cellophane to make disposable diapers and other throwaway consumer products. Whole logs were even shipped to China and Japan.

For all this, our senator William Proxmire – bless his courageous heart – gave the US Forest Service (USFS) the “Golden Fleece Award” to draw attention to such waste.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/31/alaska-tongass-national-forest-at-risk-logging-perdue

[pansypoo53219]

1. FUCK COMMERCE!!!!