What’s normal for me and mine?

I thought any remaining snow would have been erased by recent warm temperatures and rain, and I was wrong. There are still scattered patches of snow along the roads and in shaded areas of fields. The few piles on our property disappeared sometime over the weekend. The “wet spot” in our back yard is actually showing a little water. Spring conditions are approximating something like normal.

we don’t have this much water this year

Photo by J. Harrington

We’re well beyond the main path of the eclipse, and the sky is covered with a thick layer of clouds. No mid-afternoon darkness for us, nor have we seen any fundamentalists floating skyward in the Rapture. Again, an approximation of “normal.”

During a visit this morning to our favorite local book store, the Better Half and I each picked up some more reading material. That’s also as normal for us. If I keep away from politics and international affairs, what can pass for normal sometimes prevails. I think a message is lurking in there, somewhere.

Last Friday’s newsletter from Trout Unlimited [TU] reminded me of something that’s far from normal. The basic legislation governing mining in the US “was passed when Ulysses S. Grant was president in 1872.” TU, among others, is supporting revisions. Did you know that:

Unlike every other commodity produced from our public lands, there is no royalty or tax on rare earth elements, critical minerals, and luxury items such as gold and silver. 

By contrast, since 1977, coal mining has provided over $11 billion from a tax on each ton of produced coal. That funding is used to clean up abandoned coal mines across Appalachia and parts of the western United States.

You might want to read the whole TU article and think about contacting your members of congress to see if they support an update and, if not, why not. One of the basic principles of environmental management is supposed to be the “Polluter pays.” (Don’t talk to me about agriculture, please.)

Something that’s probably missing from any mining revisions is any reference to the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA). That’s a major oversight in my opinion. See what you think.

It seems our world has gotten too complex and contentious for us to get away with simply voting for our party’s candidate and forgetting about politics. As long as we don’t get too carried away, that’s probably good for US. To paraphrase an old title, “No One is an Island.”

No Man Is An Island

John Donne 1572 (London) – 1631 (London)

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No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee. 

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