Trust us

Simon’s plaintive cry suggested, inter alia, environmentalists are operating in “a knowledge vacuum” away from “the harder reality” of a true understanding of ecology and conservation.

Maybe but what’s worse is that forestry issues continue to be discussed in an economic vacuum away from the harder reality of dollars and cents. I’m not suggesting the latter should be the only criteria but to ignore them completely will lead to an unrealistic analysis and erroneous conclusions.

Simon laments that “professional foresters and conservation biologists have been largely disenfranchised”. Welcome to the Club.

Accountants and economists have likewise been largely ignored.

A state of delusion

Reading transcripts of Government Business Scrutiny Hearings can be boring.

But it can also be revealing. Sometimes it’s the questions. Other times the answers. Sometimes it’s the non answers.