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[JeffDubya]

Some people I know think I am a cigar chomping right-wing ***hole. Then, some people think I am a tree-hugging liberal.

Why? Because I am Christian, I am fiscally conservative, and - well, I do like my occasional cigar.

But in my down time I am very ecologically aware. No, I don't believe in the hysteria that surrounds global warming. I think a lot of it is crap. When I was a kid growing up, the second ice age was coming. I have heard many more scientists dispel and refute the claims made in that movie than corroborate them. But the bottom line is that if every person in the U.S. became ultra green, it is the third world populations on earth that are doing the most damage right now, not us.

Personally, the main thing I try to accomplish in my life is to eliminate waste. I recycle. I try to use every scrap of stuff I buy for projects. I compost. I try to minimize fertilizer applications. When possible I conserve water. I volunteer to clean up local streams and pick up trash along local roads and highways. Funny because I live in a college town, and 99% of all waste and garbage on the roads is coming from college kids, driving piece of crap cars, belching black smoke, and voting for environmental policies that make no sense but make us all "feel good."

That being said, one of the reasons I am working so hard to establish an aquarium society in my local area is because I believe strongly that the oceans are "out of sight - out of mind." Most folks never see below the surface, and therefore don't care.

However, as a diver - and a marine aquarium enthusiast - I come from a completely different point of view. Take Seattle, my old hometown. This city has been controlled by liberals my entire life... yet the amount of RAW SEWAGE that dumps int Puget Sound is starting to wipe out every living thing. Out of sight, out of mind.

Right now, I am also working with our local science center to build a marine display because I firmly believe in what Julian Sprung added as a footnote to one of his Reef Aquarium volumes... "We Protect What We Love." If I can introduce one person a month to the wonders of our underwater world and talk to them about the reefs, and issues of overfishing, then I feel like I have done a good thing. And because I don't run with the "granola eating, tree hugging" crowd (sorry) I feel like my testimony often has more impact than if it comes from someone with greenpeace stickers on the back of their prius.

Of course, the real conundrum here is that HOBBYISTS are RESPONSIBLE for a HUGE PORTION of the decimation of the worlds reefs. Argue me if you want, it doesn't change the facts. That's why it is critically important to encourage aquaculture whenever possible. We need to learn how to grow this stuff, if we truly want it to survive.

And now I am getting off my soapbox, and thank you for your attention. It wasn't my intention go get political here, so I do not intend to post on this subject again.