I’m going to try to not to get too preachy here, but just share truth. Even if your belief doesn’t start as mine does, the end result for today’s post is the same.
From the beginning, everything effects everything else. God charged humans with stewarding the earth and all that it is in Genesis 1:26.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’ ”
Humans have been given charge to help maintain the balance that was put into place at the beginning. This has, and still, includes hunting, fishing, grazing, and migration.
The advancement of technology and the progress of humans has made much of this feel unnecessary. Without hunting the deer, for example, become over populated, disease flourishes and often spreads to live stock that share the land.
Not allowing animals to graze on land that has been grazed on for thousands of years past, has made wild fires worse they would’ve been otherwise. Yes fire is destructive, but it is also needed to cleanse. I have seen a forest a year after a fire and the growth was amazing. We wouldn’t be as devastated by the fire or as amazed by the growth if these areas were cared for properly. Grazing animals is a form of fire mitigation. Areas that have be cleaned up, not cleared and have nothing, but taken care of, when a fire comes it won’t be as devastating because it won’t have as much to eat, therefore can’t get bigger and become out of control.
Part of our jobs as humans is yes to protect the earth from things like over grazing and over fishing. We need to take care of it so it’s here in the future.
As technology has advanced we’ve been removed from the care of livestock and wildlife, at least in most first world countries. We all have a part to play. It is as simple as don’t feed the deer. If you live in the city and there are still deer there, great. DON”T FEED THEM! You are keeping the deer nearby, possibly in your yard. What follows deer? Coyotes. Do you want them in your yard with your children or pets? Probably not. If you live more rural I understand deer are going to be there because there is more open land, again great. DON’T FEED THEM! They get bold and brazen. When I was still in Colorado, one of the nearby towns had a lot of people feeding the deer for years. They felt badly for them because it was really cold winter and been a dry summer so there wasn’t much to eat. This is the system taking care of itself, but humans step in. In this case they paid for it. The deer were too many for the area they were in. There was plenty of food just not enough space. They were taking over yards, were mangy and were losing their fear of people. This ended in an open bow season to get the numbers down.
When the wildlife is let go to that point it hurts them and it hurts our food supply. Those who hunt to provide for their family, yes that’s still a thing, can’t eat diseased deer. Like I mention earlier some of those diseases get passed to livestock and often those animals are put down. Food lost, money lost from that farming family.
Don’t feed the wildlife, birds usually are an exception, check local regulations, mow your lawn, trim your trees, recycle, get educated, mend your clothing, walk, good for the environment and you, shop local and wear wool!
Fibershed is having a symposium to talk more about this, check it out!
Happy making!
Azariahs Fibre Arts 