A Matter of Integrity

“Knowledge,” says David Wagner in his Dec. 12 Eugene Weekly column, “will inspire love of nature and love will inspire positive action. Naturalists… have an urgent calling to teach their children, friends and neighbors.”

Directly below Wagner’s column, Seneca Jones Timber Company, in a large and expensive ad, uses its founder’s great grandchildren — all decked out in cute smiles and hard hats — to once again promote the fallacy that planting mono-crop tree species, clear-cut in ever shorter cycles, is “innovative, sustainable” and, by implication, virtuous.

If it were possible, Seneca should be prosecuted for habitual mendacity, betrayal of nature’s trust and child abuse.

EW depends on advertisements to support its operations but, when, e.g., facts and body counts finally overwhelmed the tobacco industry, magazines, newspapers and other publications quit running ads for tobacco products.

Likewise, Seneca’s self-serving lies and practices are harmful to the health of the planet and its inhabitants. It’s about time for EW to demonstrate some positive action by pulling Seneca’s plugs.

Robert Emmons

Fall Creek