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| GhostInThePines
GhostInThePines
[17047814]
[2011-03-26 19:45:36 +0000 UTC]
"Thinking in geologic time..."
(United States)
# Statistics
Favourites: 1765; Deviations: 360; Watchers: 50
Watching: 123; Pageviews: 26938; Comments Made: 2808; Friends: 123
# Interests
Favorite visual artist: James GurneyFavorite movies: The Ghost and the Darkness, Jurassic Park, LotR, Harry Potter
Favorite TV shows: Doctor Who, Torchwood, Life on Mars, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel
Favorite bands / musical artists: Celtic Woman, Loreena McKennitt, Yoshida Brothers
Favorite books: The Earth Speaks, Fossil Plants
Favorite writers: Christiaan Bakkes, Mary Renault
Tools of the Trade: Sony Alpha 55, Corel (I lost ArcSoft when my previous laptop died), and a wireless mouse
Other Interests: Alexander the Great, languages, philosophies/ideas behind alternative medicine
# About me
Nature, Prehistory, & FantasyI have an Associate's Degree in Wildlife Technology, and I studied environmental education, natural disasters, and writing for a Bachelor's Degree as an Independent Major. I currently work for a governmental subdivision and my hobbies include music, theater, hiking, hunting, and fishing. I also spend quite a bit of time reading up on mythologies, ancient cultures, archaeology, paleontology/paleo-ecology, and various topics related to my college studies.
# Comments
Comments: 361
Hey, my friend. I've just had a look at your great page. You're so talented. I have the impression you're far too down on yourself.
If you can take such wonderful photos of sweet animals you can write well too.
I know you can and wish you from the bottom of my heart that you'll feel better soon.
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You're welcome!
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You're quite welcome!
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You're welcome!
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Welcome to
It is a great pleasure having you with us
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Thanks! I'm looking forward to participating in this group!
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You're welcome!
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Umm, hello there! I saw your comment on that ladies helping ladies deviation, and I must say that I fully agree with your statement, even tho I am a woman myself, I'm glad that there are still people who have morals and who understand how society works, I hope you will feel better later ^^'
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Thank you. It's always good to hear from people who have similar thoughts!
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Thanks for the favs, and support, much appreciated
Just took a quick look through your gallery, and I really like your wildlife work, keep it going!
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You're welcome and thanks!
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You're quite welcome!
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So let me get this straight: you're a conservative? Please answer, as I'm very curious.
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I have both conservative and libertarian views... and a few "liberal" views as well. Primarily, though, I just believe that people need to take responsibility for themselves. I don't care what they do in their private lives as long as it doesn't infringe on the life pursuits of other people. Believe what you want. Marry whoever you want. Engage in whatever activities you want. Wreck your body however you want... just don't ask your neighbors to pay for the mistakes you might make. I'm fine with helping people who fall into hard times through no fault of their own, but I don't believe in rewarding stupidity with handouts. At the same time, I also believe in caring for our service members and elders who worked to make our lives better, both in the military sector as well as the private sectors. Most of them deserve our respect.
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So to me you sound like a right wing libertarian. Alright, well in that case you CAN NOT call your self an environmentalist, because you'd be lying if you did. I also find it strange that someone with a seemingly naturalist personality can support the conservative party, the same party that gives absolutely ZERO fucks about the environment (or nature, however you want to put it). The fact that democrats are trying to reduce carbon emissions means that less coal will be mined; and thus less natural land will be plundered. So if you TRULY loved nature, as your photo gallery suggests, then you wouldn't be siding with the political party that wants to plunder and exploit it.
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You're making a lot of really poor assumptions... both about me as an individual and about effective conservation work. I have never claimed to be an "environmentalist" and have no desire to be associated with those nut jobs. I am a conservationist. Conservationists are for responsible use of natural resources that helps humanity as well as preserves nature for future generations.
Environmentalists are against the use of fossil fuels... and yet wind turbines killed 63 bald eagles last year according to a report in The Wildlife Society's monthly newsletter. Wind turbines are also responsible for the deaths of countless thousands of songbirds and bats that fly into them during their biannual migrations due to the effects they have on local electromagnetic fields. A brand new version of solar energy production - still in experimental stages and sponsored by several major tech & energy companies (including Google) - has just been blamed for literally frying hundreds of birds out in California. Oh, and nuclear energy? - yeah, you can tell me that's a good idea when you live in the shadow of a nuclear power plant like my family does, and you end up going through a potential meltdown scare in the middle of a system upgrade. And no one really wants nuclear waste being hauled by eighteen-wheelers through their towns on the way to the storage facilities that are supposed to keep it safe for the next umpteen thousand years.
In Pennsylvania, we have over 3,000 miles of streams contaminated by acid mine drainage (AMD), left over from when there were no environmental regulations to protect people and the environment from the negative effects of coal mining. Now, however, any mining/fracking/drilling projects that occur in the state must return the used lands and water to a state that is either equal to or better than how they found it prior to doing any fuel extractions. Because of these laws, hardwood forests that were strip-mined have now been turned into diverse habitat that supports 10x the species that were found in the areas before. Many of these new habitats are now owned/managed by our State Game Commission - funding for which comes primarily from sales of hunting licenses (and guess which political leanings most hunters have...). The AMD is being cleaned up by fracking companies as they clean up the waters they used for their extraction projects - clean up that would have never happened otherwise because there is no funding for it outside of a handful of local charity groups run by fishermen/hunters/sportsmen. Other groups that help with a lot of habitat creation/protection/management in Pennsylvania include Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, the Ruffed Grouse Society, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - Northeast Chapter, and Pheasants Forever... these are only a few of the national foundations that do conservation work here, alongside the countless local groups, and they're all primarily funded by sportsmen.
So don't tell me I'm wrong for being conservative. Conservatives are not against environmental protections. In fact, I'd dare to say we're better at natural conservation than the liberals... after all, we can manage the environment and still use it to the benefit of humanity.
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Oh, and I'm SURE we'll all be able to use coal for the rest of our species's existence. I mean, it's not like that could ever run out. 
I HIGHLY doubt that people can fully restore land that has been damaged because of coal mining, because the ENTIRE SUBLAYER OF DIRT has been removed. That means there's no topsoil left; only ground that hasn't been good for tens of thousands of years. (can you prove me wrong?) I've seen pictures of the effects of coal mining, and it's awful. The way I see it, there are no long term benefits for using coal as a power source. And for the record, I don't support wind energy, but even that is better than mining coal.
Also, I see you're just another liberal-basher on the forums. 
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Oh, and P.S.: If you think anything I've said on the forums here is liberal-bashing, then cub, you ain't seen nothing. I've barely even flashed my fangs at any of these pups.
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What part of "any mining/fracking/drilling projects that occur in the state must return the used lands and water to a state that is either equal to or better than how they found it prior to doing any fuel extractions..." did you not understand? Lands that are mined are being improved from what was there originally! (With Pennsylvania being one of the top seven states suffering from sinkholes due to erosion of salt and limestone deposits, strip mining actually settles the land and helps to ensure the integrity of the sub-layers so as to avoid future ground subsidence and water contamination.) The topsoil from mining sites is saved - moved to an out-of-the-way area where it can be protected - and then returned. Then specially-selected plant communities are applied to the land (including specific ground-covers, shrubs, grasses, and trees) to ensure that roots grow quickly enough to prevent the topsoil from being eroded by rain. Like I said, here in Pennsylvania, many of these mined lands are now owned/managed by our State Game Commission, and they support a much wider diversity of wildlife species than what was found in the areas before!
Yes, the mining that was done prior to the '70s sucked... before the land restoration/improvement laws were written and passed. And yes, the land is horrible during the mining process... I've been to active mining sites - they're unbearably hot, dry, and dusty. But the mining lasts for maybe five years or so before all of the coal is extracted and the site is then returned to its original/improved state and the miners move on.
Wind energy is not cost-effective on the large scale nor is it particularly healthy for anyone/thing sensitive to electromagnetic fields... if you want a more suitable renewable energy source, I highly suggest going back to hydro. With the advances in technology that have been made since it "went out of fashion" so to speak, hydro now has all of the previous benefits and less of the downsides. Also, dams are an easy way of keeping track of the progression of invasive species in our nation's waterways.
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You're welcome! And thanks for faving my creek photos!
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