This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:

Shirely Powell recently wrote, “The well-being of a few water moccasins shouldn’t be put above that of our people,” referring to flood problems that cannot be alleviated because the EPA may be preventing a swamp from being cleared out to improve drainage.

Living in a flood zone myself, I completely sympathize with Powell’s complaint. Elizabeth City Public Works recently came in and bulldozed down the nice park right across the street from my home. In its place, they planted a swamp, a small nature preserve. Since then, the street in front of my house, Hunter Street, spends about 25% of its time underwater. I once had to rescue a catfish that got stranded in my yard during low-tide, and don’t even get me started on the mosquitoes.

Perspective is important here. If we remove that swamp and those “few water moccasins,” then we also remove the family of raccoons that took up residence there, the carolina raptors, falcons, herons, ducks, and frogs that shelter there. Remove other swamps and we remove the black bears, bobcats, bats, mink, grey and red foxes, rabbits, and grey squirrels. Not to mention, the population explosion of rats, mice, and insects that would occur when their natural predators are removed.

The problem is that removing these habitats because “People must come first!” has been the status quo for so long that now when we harm our environment we are making people secondary to conspicuous consumption. Putting people first now means preserving clean air, water, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability for all people, including future generations.

Jared Diamond, in his bestselling book “Collapse,” speculated on the human-made ecological disaster that drove Easter Island’s civilization into extinction. What were they thinking as they chopped down the island’s last tree?

Was it, “People before trees?”