Clearcutting trees on the edge of Lake LaSalle was "a big mistake"

Dear Editor:

What does UB have against trees? After obliterating all the trees between Putnam Way and Jacobs Hall (with no notice to or consultation with the neighbors in surrounding buildings) and after trees on the North Campus Promenade and Flint Loop were chopped down one by one, again with no consultation or notification, the UB chainsaws have been at it again.

What do we see crammed right to the edge of Lake LaSalle? A clearcut where one of UB's prettiest wooded spaces once stood! Fragrant lilacs, graceful willows and mature deciduous and coniferous trees-gone without a trace. This formerly shady and pleasant place now is the building site for housing, complete with parking for 1,000 cars.

UB's decision to destroy this beautiful area flies in the face of "UB 2025," our campus' environmentally friendly land-use outline. According to the UB 2025 plan, land around the lake was to remain park-like and be devoted to passive recreation. UB 2025 was developed by the UB Environmental Task Force (composed of faculty, students and administrators) and enthusiastically endorsed by the UB administration (see the Reporter dated April 25, 1996). Yes, UB's students need and want more apartment-style campus housing, but they also need beautiful places to sit, study, stroll and socialize. It was a big mistake to destroy this natural area; UB just seems to have something against trees!

Sincerely,
Ellen M. Gibson
Law Library Director

Decision to phase out endangered-forest wood products is good news

To the Editor:

The recent news story announcing Home Depot's plans to phase out of old-growth or endangered-forest wood relayed some of the best news possible for the 20 percent of the world's ancient forests that remain intact.

Home Depot is currently the world's largest retailer of old-growth wood products-products that have been ripped from the heart of some of the most threatened forest areas on the planet. These products include lauan and ramin from the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, mahogany from the Amazon and cedar and other woods from the temperate rainforests of British Columbia.

It is also important to note that Home Depot's decision to go old-growth-free is a huge victory for grassroots organizing. Groups across the U.S. and Canada-even in Chile-organized demonstrations at local Home Depot stores urging the retail giant to do the right thing. There were more than 500 demonstrations during the two-year campaign, including one right here in Buffalo organized by the University at Buffalo Environmental Network.

Home Depot says its decision was not in response to any of our protests, but I am not so sure. Two years ago, the company denied selling any old-growth wood, two months ago it said it had too many products to figure out where it all comes from, and now it is saying it was the plan to phase out of old-growth wood all along. I'm not about to contradict them. I'm just happy they are doing it!

But the question remains. Now that the industry leader has committed to stop selling old-growth wood, what are other home-improvement chains going to do? When will Sears Hardware, True Value, Ace Hardware and 84 Lumber tell us that they, too, will work to protect our forests and not destroy them?

Mike Schade
UB Environmental Network

Professor Boot's "blue booklet" letter brings to mind several quotes

Dear Editor:

The remarks by Professor Boot regarding David Triggle's "blue booklet" brought to mind the following lines.

"We pass over the silly remarks of the [man]; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of." [Harrisburg Patriot and Union]

"The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, dish-watery utterances of the man..." [Chicago Tribune]

"Anything more dull and commonplace, it would not be easy to produce." [London Times]

The foregoing are contemporary comments on Lincoln's Gettysburg address [Carl Sandburg: "Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years and The War Years, One-volume Edition, Harvest/HBJ, pp. 445-446].

Sincerely,
J. C. Winter, professor of pharmacology and toxicology
School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences