Happy Thanksgiving

Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Resource Specialist 
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.  This particular one is for giving thanks, and we should do so, for so many things.  I know it is easy to get all wrapped up in the negativity that goes on in the world today.  When we turn on the news we hear about all the things that are “coming at us” in the future and they are all negative- global warming, winter storms, prices of everything, world events, and the list goes on.  I think it is good to also reflect on what we have, and what we have gained in the last couple hundred years.  We have really come a long way, but we get so entangled in the negativity coming at us that we forget.  Or, maybe some readers aren’t even old enough to remember.
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We got through The Great Depression; a couple of world wars (We thank ALL Vets for their service.  Without them we would not have all that we have.  THANK YOU!); some smaller, but no less important, wars; the Industrial Revolution, and the list goes on.

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In the Conservation field, we have also come a long way.  We shouldn’t lose sight of that.  Sure, we have a lot of things still coming at us, but we do have some real success stories.  Do you know that a river caught fire in 1969?  A river. You know, water.  How does that happen?  We have sure cleaned things up since then.  Sure, we have microplastics and PFAS and the like, but they are measured in ppb.  Less than 60 years ago, the entire river was on fire!!!

The Industrial Revolution gave us a lot of advancements in a short period of time, but we also really screwed up the environment in a lot of cases.  The rivers were a dumping ground.  We were building so many new and exciting things, we destroyed a lot of other things to get to where we are.  We have been trying to correct some of that now for decades.  The environment seems relatively intact at this point.

Did you know that here in Bradford County, the land was relatively bare back in the 40’s and 50’s?  Between forestry and agriculture, we cut and cleared about everything we could.  It looked more like the Midwest, a small patch of woods here and there, but everything else barren.  Do you know how many animals like their environment like that?  Just about zero.  There were no deer.  There were no turkeys (for Thanksgiving).  There were no bears, rabbits, coyotes, bald eagles, or much of anything like that.  Look where we are today.  We have all of them, and more.  Who doesn’t walk outside and enjoy seeing any one of those creatures? If you are young enough, you may not even realize that this is a major comeback for wildlife.  There are a lot of people out there just completely focused on getting that big buck.  60 years ago you focused on finding a deer. 

We like to complain about the cost of living and how bad things are.  Do you know that the U.S spends less (in dollars per person) on food than any other country in the world?  Look up Our World in Data 2023, Total Consumer Expenditures.  U.S. is at 6.8%.  Just to pick a few others- Isreal 15.8%, China 21.2%, India 29.9%, Ukraine 41.7%, and Nigeria at 59.3%.  Imagine how many cell phones and fancy cars and tractors and video games and everything else you would buy today if 30% of everything you made went toward food.  Not many.
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So, for this Thanksgiving, give thanks for the food on your table that costs you less of your total income than anywhere else on the planet.  Then, get up and go outside.  Breathe in the fresh air that nature provides for us.  Take a walk in nature, if you have the ability to, and look for some deer, turkeys, squirrels, or bear.  You know, the things that didn’t exist here 60 years ago.  Stroll down by the river, and although it may still have some issues, enjoy the fact that it is clean enough that it is not going to catch fire.  And in your travels, if you happen to run across a vet, thank them for allowing us to have all the things we have today.  Happy Thanksgiving.
 
The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.