Why is it when people talk about environmental issues they always talk about economic, political, social and every other kind of issue but the environmental ones?

The deforestation controversy nags me to no end. Restricting logging in the American northwest always draws debate and outcry. The lumber industry says restricting logging will hurt their profits, and it will mean loss of jobs and livelihood for lumberjacks.

“You fools!” they cry. “You’ll be sorry when there’s no more paper to write your sorry laws down on.”

Sure. Is the lumber industry somehow special? Why should the jobs of lumberjacks be protected?

Has anyone ever mentioned the other occupations that might be threatened by ransacking American forests? Frankly, I feel sorry for the hippy tour guides, naturalists, environmental activists, wildlife biologists and others whose livelihood is threatened by the destruction of forests. Who speaks for them?

Humans place an arbitrary value on things, and when it comes to who is right, it usually boils down to who has the loudest voice and the most power. Tourism and recreation industries are too decentralized to have the lobbying power of the lumber industry, but aren’t these jobs just as important? Don’t they have families with bellies to feed?

In our materialistic society, it is much easier to put a value on a pile of two-by-fours then on the mental, physical and spiritual value of amenity resources. Wood is tangible. You can touch it and almost immediately figure out what it is all about. Natural resources, however, have many subtle levels of complexity that affect many aspects of our lives.

Even so, it is hard to give credence to the economic arguments of touchy-feely long-hairs who make their living on natural beauty, rare species, and academic and spiritual enlightenment. The plaid-clad brawn of a logger driving a bulldozer pell-mell through the forest is much more sensible.

“You fools! You’ll be sorry when there is no more biodiversity to provide potential, but as yet undiscovered, cures for disease,” cried the long-hairs.

Hmm. Maybe. Falling back on an economic argument, securing the jobs of lumberjacks is just putting off the inevitable. Eventually there is going to be a tree shortage and they are going to lose their jobs anyway. But if we protect natural woodland areas, we could have many generations of peacenik tour guides and naturalists leading the ignorant on an exploration of the earth’s natural beauty.

Still, it will be no easy task to unite the LSD-befuddled, ex-Deadhead tour guides and sporting goods store employees who really do believe they are in paradise, while making minimum wage with no benefits.