Right of the Individual vs Community Consciousness

11 July 2012
8:16 PM

Sunset at	12:12 AM	in direction	336°	North-northwest
Sunrise at	3:41 AM	in direction	24°	North-northeast

Civil Twilight all day

Hardy Perennial Rose

Tammie Wilson and people who think like her are a mystery to me.  Takes all kinds; everyone's entitled to their opinion; vive la difference - and all that - but I still don't get why some Alaskans want the rest of us to breath their filth, drive past their junk, and work hard to avoid paying any sort of state or community support at all in any way.  As stated in today's News Miner, "Tammie Wilson is leading an effort to collect signatures for an initiative that would bar the borough from regulating and limiting the sale or operation of any heating appliances, including wood stoves, and from issuing fines related to their use."

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Wilson initiative could reignite air quality battle

People who are far more willing to rationalize and explain the behavior will remind me that those that come to Alaska are often running away from what they considered overly controlled lives in the Lower 48.  They will tell me that the income level is low in the state and people can not afford to invest in long term environmentally sound solutions.  Some will shrug, saying that's the way it is up here - they just don't care and don't want to change the way they do things.

While it's true that people are not paid as well here and the cost of living is high, there are always jobs that can't be filled.  Many protestors are those that don't work, by choice.  They scrounge, do small jobs, and live a bare bones life - out of choice.  That includes not bothering to replace a polluting wood stove with a clean burner.  The borough is offering a trade in policy.  You can bring a wood stove that does not meet EPA standards in, and they will pay for the replacement.  I advertised our EPA compliant stove because we want one that burns for longer hours as we work during the day and aren't here to tend to it.  I listed it at $900, an amount most likely replaced entirely by the borough.  I have had only one call.  So, it is not just a matter of money.

I don't get it.

I've heard some people I've come in contact with refer to other regions of the country as "police states".  One person deemed by home state, California, as a police state.  I had no idea what he was talking about, really.  Yes, there are more people and yes there are more laws governing how they interact as a result.  But if I were to compare my family in California, many of whom are in the same income category as those who live in leaky, cold cabins and mobile homes with poor heating devices here in Alaska, I would have to say my family members are far more comfortable in all ways - not just because of the weather.  Their lives are more free and they have more power with respect to demanding what they need from the state because they pay taxes - everyone pays taxes, not just land owners.

Like I said, I don't get it.

But most of all, I don't get why others think they have the right to pollute my life just because they don't care about breathing smoke particulates.  One apartment owner bought an old wood burning furnace and is using it to heat his entire apartment complex in winter.  Do you know how much smoke/wood particulate that must put out?  I have watched the entire valley near McGrath Road fill with smoke from one home owner off of Farmer's Loop who also uses a wood furnace to heat.  Yet those who live in proximity, some of who are asthma patients, have no recourse because the borough can't even pass a law that says neighbors can report excessive smoke and if not corrected, the offender "may" be fined.

Honestly, I don't get it.  I just don't understand that type of thinking.