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Respect for nature
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Posted on Apr 18 2012
Anything on public lands is a public good and belongs to nature. The new public law dealing with hot pepper—I believe this is the “donni sali” one—is better dealt with for preservation and regulation of the natural plant by licensing policy. If you want to pick “donni sali” on public lands, you simply require that one obtain a license and pay a fee for the right to enter a public land and harvest this plant. In due time, all will learn and perfect this practice. The Tinian case will be a basket microcosm for our purpose, and a host governmental agency would apply licensing protocol as revenue sources for the harvesting and removal of plants and animals in the wild. If there is over harvesting, the administering agency should declare that situation and halt further harvest licensing in the meantime, and allow for the plants or animals to recover over a period of time.
The indigenous community of these islands were once a hunting and food gathering society. They worked with nature and let nature made the natural adjustments. If the ancient Chamorro people of these islands prospered with their food gathering and hunting tradition, and it came with coercive undifferentiated social standards, modern man would certainly have enough foresight and competency to respect and enjoy nature as well. Somehow economic production and products made modern man more interested in materialism and his struggle with nature is dismissed as a nuisance. The “me” mentality overruled the common care and good in that take-everything-that-you-can-get-from-what-nature-provides is the norm, and expecting in return that nature would magically return a favor in abundance. It is foolish for anyone to think this way. But we can only do so much today in this materialistic society because of the diversity of ethnicity on these islands and some people just do not give due respect to the public good of these public lands. It hopeful that one day man and nature would adjust and self-correct itself as God intended and created it to be.
