Re: [Paddlewise] whales and kayaks

It seems a broader consideration of 'situational' might be worth considering.
Some people, and I would include myself, think that balancing a 'wild
creature's' safety against a human's
need or desire to 'experience wilderness' is already a disjunctive bit of
reasoning. Clearly, paddling
up close or next to a creature is NOT the moral or physical equiv. of harpooning
them for commercial
or recreational hunting purposes. The ramifications and consequences of ALL
encroachment are not so
easily separated or delineated.  Habitat is not so clearly marked by 'wild
creatures' as it is by property
plats and civil law.  Respect for a wild creature may well entail leaving it
alone.  I would guess that
most everyone who contributes to this list considers themselves to be more aware
and sensitive to the
harmful consequence of human interaction with the environment, and likely more
experienced in navigating
these places with as little impact as possible.  I'm not convinced that this
qualifies us for any sort of
special consideration where whales (or bears, or cougars, or snail darters) are
concerned. One critical
distinction is that at the end of our experience we pack up the boat and drive
'home'.

It's a problem when a backpacker allows a squirrell to feast on his GORP,
because GORP doesn't grow wild
in the Blue Ridge. But because squirrells don't maul people as bears might,
you're not likely to see "A Fed Squirrell is a Dead Squirrell"
posters at the Ranger Station.  Leave No Trace means just that. It's a difficult
proposition and it requires an ongoing committment to
learning how one's specific, individual actions and behaviors interact with the
larger ecology.  When we choose to label
people as Nazis, or wave the bloody shirt of Politcal Correctness, we're trying
to identify ourselves as being victims of
some unreasonable, illogical, and hyperbolic force that we suspect is as
self-serving as it is self-destructive.

In the debate over the use of Native American and Indigenous Peoples names and
images for
commercial and sports team use/abuse, Glenn T. Morris of Colorado AIM responded
to the issue of what constituted an 'honor':
"People should remember that an honor isn't born when it parts the honorer's
lips, it is born when it is accepted in the honoree's ear."
I offer this here because I think it goes to the heart of this notion of
situational ethics.
Just because I'm the creature who is aware of the ethical crux, doesn't mean I'm
the creature who gets to define the 'situation'.

-Will Jennings




***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not
to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************