Your final paragraph kinda hits home. Everyone makes plans with a place they purchase.
In fact, it also amazes me that the most concern from most people comes from USEPA or from endangered species. However, the most restrictions on your life from a property-rights perspective are not from state or federal environmental laws. The most restrictive are, local zoning laws and home association rules. These can be as esoteric as how tall your grass can be before you cut it, whether you can have two dogs, how much brick is on the exterior of your house, whether or not you can have a fence or a shed. Frankly, in comparison, environmental rules are pretty darn inconsequential to most people's lives. I used to live in Bossier City, Louisiana and I hated living in the suburb. However, the thing I hated most was that as soon as your grass grew over four inches, you got warning notices on your door. The kicker? All the grass was Bahaia. Do you know how long it takes bahaia to send up seed heads after you cut it? Sometimes a day or two!!! However, the people who lived there liked it that way, and had we stayed in Shreveport, we probably would have moved out into the rural sections. I think a lot of us need to put ourselves in the other guys shoes only so we can understand where he/she is coming from. (This works with student-professor situations too, both students and professors need to try to see things from the other side. of course, this is easier for professors who have been students at some point!). If you understand why a person is upset about a rule, then you are more capable of dealing with the person, and figuring out a solution. The best option with most rules is to embrace them rather than try to duck under them. The latter always comes back to bite you. Just ask some of our brilliant jailbirds who formerly worked on Wallstreet. On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Chris Buddenhagen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all > > I see consulting more positively. I agree the consulting environment is > pretty intense work, and there is an element of push and pull much like the > legal system, but usually less adversarial (until issues are taken to court > of course). If you think of our environmental laws as the only thing > between us and completely stupid exploitation and environmental mayhem, > then the consultant is an important player. They can act like a referee > between companies and the public sector agencies that enforce the laws. I > just hope the public sector always has enough resources to do their job! > Many (most) consultants are trained in environmental sciences and care > about the environment as much as any academic, but are working in the real > world where costs and benefits are weighed. Honesty is always the best > policy since it doesn't come back and bite you or the client. > > I got to work on public sector projects implementing innovative > conservation policy, protocols and practices that I believe helped bring > about positive change. Also I got to work on mitigation plans and such like > to offset environmental impacts, and monitor impacts. It mostly seemed > relevant, though a little contrived at times. If I'd stayed longer I might > have got a chance to work on actual conservation measures to offset those > environmental costs too. The contractors of consultants often want to > comply and are willing to sustain substantial costs to meet environmental > safeguards - to a point. I consulted both in a firm and for myself. I have > worked in NGO, University and public sector jobs. > > Interesting comment about doing whatever you want with your property. Its > so fundamental, and difficult to reconcile - capitalism and individual > liberties are implicated. For example, you buy your own land to build your > "environmentally friendly" dream house, you might be quite conscious about > impacts but view some as acceptable. Cut down some trees here and there, > put in a road, plant a mix of native and non-native plants into a mosaic > that has both, fix some drainage etc.....just a enough right? You want some > bureaucrat telling you what to do? > > Cheers > Chris Buddenhagen -- Malcolm L. McCallum Department of Environmental Studies University of Illinois at Springfield Managing Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology "Nothing is more priceless and worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans." -President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 into law. 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