We lost Lyle Wonderlich last week after a courageous battle with cancer. It was a pleasure to get to know Lyle, Kathy and his most excellent family. His oldest son Brian is married to my daughter Megan. Lyle had a passion for the American Paint Horse, a breed of horse that combines the conformational characteristic of a western stock horse with pinto spotting pattern of white and dark colors. Spring was an exciting time at Sterling Oaks Farms in Star when the new foals arrived. Lyle combined his veterinarian skills with his Twin Falls childhood. Doc and Butch, his parents, owned RoseAcre Farm where they bred paint horses and earned top honors awarded by APHA including Supreme Champion title for a horse named Gallant Ghost. Lyle carried that legacy forward and built a distinguished career working with large animals. Lyle was a man of few words but it was clear to me he loved his work, the horses and his family. Join me in wishing “Happy Trails” to Lyle and a tip of the Stetson for a life well lived.
You are about to hear a lot about Earth Overshoot Day. In a lead up to the August 1 announcement of this year’s frightening data, a giant hummingbird and a blooming hibiscus ? fill an electronic billboard in Times Square. The day is a collaboration of many environmental groups led by the Global Footprint network. The day represents the point in the year when “humanity has consumed more natural resources and created more waste than Earth can safely replace in a year.” The 2018 date is the earliest in the 12 years of measurement by the group. The article highlighted raging fires in the Western United States, severe water shortages in Cape Town, rising sea levels, and the continued build-up of greenhouse gasses. “There are consequences of busting the ecological budget of our one and only planet.” I think you can argue about the specific measurement but the evidence of stress on earth is clear. People in the United States are so fortunate for our freedoms, we also enjoy a disproportionate share of resources, the overshoot day for our country was March 15th. The goal of the campaign is to highlight the real planet threatening issues and make them a topic of informed discussion around the world. Today, it would take “1.7 Earths to supply the resources needed to sustain our 7.6 billion people for a year.”
A few thoughts as we ride off into another 100 degree day with fires burning in the West. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” Mahatma Gandhi. Terry Swearingen feels “we are living on the planet as if we have another one to go to.” Elon Musk is moving to Mars— not sure where our children will go if we continue to delude ourselves about sustainability on our only planet.
Enjoy each day. Mike