"For unnumbered centuries of human history the wilderness has
given way. The priority of industry has become dogma. Are we as yet
sufficiently enlightened to realize that we must now challenge that
dogma, or do without our wilderness? Do we realize that industry, which
has been our good servant, might make a poor master?" ~Aldo Leopold
I know that I have always been conscious of the quiet, but steady destruction of wild places that human consumption necessitates, somewhere in the back of my head there has always been an awareness that natural places that I have known and loved in my life will not always be there. Its a reality I have been uncomfortable with for a long time, but one that I know I thought, and I think most people think, that they can do nothing about. How does one person stop the inevitable grind of progress in defense of the wild places they have come to love? This is an adversary against which the average person cannot possibly compete, right? But in my more recent work I am beginning to discover the ways in which each of us, in our own way, can make a difference. I am finding them, and I want to share them, because this is a fight that is truly worth fighting, not just for the environmentalists and the outdoors enthusiasts, but for everyone and let me tell you why.
I recently listened to an episode of the podcast called "Too Much Information" with Benjamen Walker called "4 Big Ideas From Sept 17th, 2012" and I highly recommend it to everyone, and I mean everyone, not just environmentalists, even though I know that my audience of the 4 people who read this blog is heavily biased on the environmental side, please share this, because this matters. It's about the book Small is Beautiful by the British economist and author E. F. Schumacher and it talks about economics of scale. My favorite quote from the episode is by the author Andrew Sims, who says:
"If a business goes bankrupt you can set up elsewhere, if the biosphere, if the ecosystems upon which we depend are bankrupted through over-exploitation, well, there might be no coming back from that."
I love it because I think it completely explains the sense of urgency I feel about protecting the planet that we depend on, not just because I am a nature-loving tree-hugger, but because I can see that in a very fundamental way this planet sustains us, and if we don't take care to preserve at least some of it, eventually we will bankrupt it. Consider this statistic: According to the Pew Environment Group 6000 acres of open land are lost each day...each day! That is 2.19 million acres of land that are lost each year, every year or alternatively 250 acres per hour...until somebody says that's enough. I'm saying that's enough now. We cannot live as though our resources are infinite, we cannot assume that growth is always the answer. Try to imagine a world with no open spaces, no wild lands, no wilderness. It should be unimaginable, because it is illogical and unnatural, but I've met people who say they would prefer it. I think this is a preference borne of a lack of understanding.
So what can you do to help change this?
Educate, teach your children about the environment and wildernesses that you love, your parents, your friends. Talk about it, tell people why you care. I can't help but be passionate about these things, and it just bubbles out of me all the time. Ask any one of my friends, I am one of the most annoying hiking buddies ever, because I just spout information about ecosystems, air quality, endangered species, habitat loss, and anything else that pops into my head. I can't help it, but I like to think that every once in a while I inspire someone else to care, and that is the best outcome that I can think of.
Support, not everyone wants to do the kind of work that I do, and that is absolutely fine. Not everyone has to, but if you support the efforts that people in my line of work are making, show it. I know so many people who agree with what I do, and congratulate my efforts to protect these wild lands, but getting people to lift a pen and share these feelings with others is like pulling teeth! Writing a letter to the editor, blog post, facebook post, or tweet about a local wilderness area that you love can be so inspiring to someone like me who spends their days making efforts that most people never even notice. Like the Campaign for America's Wilderness on facebook, find the person closest to your area who is out there inventorying public lands to find eligible wilderness areas and shake their hand, write them a thank you letter, or donate to their organization. Write to your congress person urging them to give lands near you wilderness protection. These things can take 5 minutes, but if you don't show anyone that these issues matter to you, no one will ever do anything about it.
Warning: Shameless plug of my own work to follow...
If you are in Wyoming, have traveled to Wyoming, or want to travel to Wyoming, consider doing me the favor of writing something about your appreciation of the lands that I have inventoried. If you hunt in Wyoming, consider voicing how crucial winter ranges for big game need better protections so that there will continue to be healthy populations of game for sport hunting. If you appreciate desert landscapes, consider writing to the to a local paper and expressing how important it is that we realize deserts are not simply wasted space, sitting on top of possible energy reserves, but are instead valuable habitats and ecosystems. If you like backpacking and back country camping, write to your favorite magazine or publication urging readers to recognize that many of the areas they enjoy are not yet protected, and could in fact be developed at any time.
Do something! Do anything. Express what you care about in your state and why to anyone that you can, because tomorrow's 6000 acres could be the forests and fields of your childhood, and if you stay quiet today you'll forever regret it when that fateful tomorrow comes.
"The most striking thing about modern industry is that it requires so much and accomplishes so little. Modern industry seems to be inefficient to a degree that surpasses one's ordinary powers of imagination. Its inefficiency therefore remains unnoticed." -E. F. Schumacher
