Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Dance with the one who brung ya

- Richard Mason is a registered profession­al geologist, downtown developer, former chairman of the Department of Environmen­tal Quality Board of Commission­ers, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and syndicated columnist. Email richard@gibral

The headline here was a comment made by legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal back in the SWC days when someone asked if he was going to throw the ball more.

What does that have to do with Arkansas? Everything. We’re not dancing with who brung us. We may say the Natural State, but we’re sure not dancing to the Natural State tune, and we can’t expect to succeed in enhancing our quality of life if we don’t do the Natural State dance. And we’re not dancing.

If we really believe our natural beauty is the centerpiec­e of our state, then we’ll dance with Mother Nature instead of destroying our natural beauty. I could fill up this column with examples such as “Hog farm on the Buffalo watershed.” No one in their right mind who gives a whit about our state’s natural beauty could possibly think a hog farm on the Buffalo watershed is dancing with who brung ya.

And just think about all the dozens of empty or near-empty industrial parks that are bare scraped-off acres sitting empty with only a lottery’s chance of ever seeing an actual plant or factory being located there. The list goes on and on, and everything on that list is basically anti-Natural State.

That’s the problem. So how do we switch dancing partners?

The solution is simple. But it requires a total reversal of the way we approach almost everything we do in Arkansas. We must approach our daily decisions, whether big or small, with the same question. Will this enhance the Natural State, or will it diminish it? The second part of that question is just as important: What can be done to stop those who are destroying the beauty of the Natural State?

I believe if we enhance our natural beauty, then all of its benefits will be protected and we will truly have a state where cities, towns, and woodlands will have an ever-increasing quality of life. Skilled high-tech profession­als who are fed up with the traffic and pollution in our mega cities will gravitate to a true Natural State, where they can have the enhanced quality of life everyone wants.

What can the average Arkansawye­r do to enhance the Natural State? Let’s start with the items that add up by making a small addition every year compounded by thousands of others making similar additions.

The most natural thing I can think of is our trees. We have a lot of trees, but we have thousands upon thousands of blank places that are just crying for trees. Before you point at that empty parking lot, check out your front yard. Remember, a great shade tree in your front yard can cut your utility bill by as much 25 percent and give the appraised value as much as a $10,000 boost.

Every positive addition to items such as trees to the Natural State adds to our quality of life. If you would like to be a part of a great group of tree planters, join with Street Trees Little Rock and give a donation or help plant a tree.

The blank parking lots in every town in the state cry for greenery, and the stuck-in-the-1950s landlords who think trees are fluff are keeping the shopping center tenants from reaching their stores’ potential. Government studies have confirmed the obvious: Landscaped shopping centers do 25 percent more business than blank lots.

But it’s not just a landscaped shopping center, it’s everything that—for a better word—is ugly. If you look down your gateway street into your town, is it ugly? Is it full of garish, oversized signs? Are the utility wires cluttering the treeless street? Yes, it’s easy to see ugly if you pay attention to your surroundin­gs, but that’s part of the problem. We just blank out those ugly scenes with thoughts such as “It would cost too much.” Or, “It’s not important.” Or “Trees would just get in the way and maybe I couldn’t see the 60-foot tall McDonald’s sign.”

But let’s face it, folks, we’re not leading the pack in good taste and environmen­tal progress. No, we’re bottom feeders who ignore cities that are making quality of life improvemen­ts. All of the items I have mentioned are already in place in progressiv­e towns, and we’ll catch up someday—-maybe. But we need to start.

And as our population becomes more proactive, it will happen. So why not be a troublemak­er and start insisting on some of the obvious additions to our state that will bring us up to the Natural State image? Yes, when you go to a city council meeting in Arkansas and start insisting on a sign ordinance or planting trees, or putting utilities undergroun­d, you will be called a troublemak­er.

Being proactive is more than planting trees. It also consists of opposing things that are detrimenta­l to our ecosystem. A good example is the forestry bill proposed by U.S. Representa­tive Bruce Westerman. My opinion, and the opinions of many others who don’t want our national forests to become corporate timber farms, is that we should oppose the bill, but if Congressma­n Westerman thinks it is such a great bill, he should come down to El Dorado and hold a town hall meeting to explain why.

Congressma­n, just give me a date, and I’ll reserve the largest facility in South Arkansas for a town hall meeting, and I’ll guarantee you a great crowd. And while you’re here, you can tell us why the $142,000 in contributi­ons from the forestry industry didn’t influence the writing of the bill.

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