Race to the bottom
“A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.”
Dr. Seuss
It was kind of ironic, me and the boy inside on such a rainy day, watching the Lorax on Netflix when this log ship goes by the house, loaded for Asia. So, while we’re watching the Dr. Seuss morality play about cutting down all the truffula trees, a load of fir goes steaming north through the Narrows, destined to be shaped into TV stands, cheap end tables and toothpicks by forced labor somewhere in the emerging world. I think “ironic” is the right word.
Exporting raw materials is something that banana republics do to get cash. Harvest what you did not plant – be it trees or fish, oil or coal – and gut the future for a quick buck today. That’s how the third world economies roll, and every time I see one of these ships go past my windows, I see this country going one more step down that road to irrelevance. The Lorax is only a story; it just happens to be a true one.
About Ken Campbell
New Release
A story of sea kayaking and science on the rugged coast of Alaska. Coming – Spring 2014.
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